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In the last issue of The Messenger There follow three tributes to Adriaan Pottasch; and by Raymond Wilson, who
(142, p. 51) only a brief obituary of Adriaan Blaauw: by Tim de Zeeuw, current led the Optics Group during his tenure as
Blaauw, the second Director General ESO Director General; by his long-term Director General.
of ESO, could be included at the time of colleague at the Kapteyn Institute, Stuart
going to press.
ESO [M]
1953, becoming its associate director in
1956, and moved back to Groningen
1
ESO in 1957, where he was in a key position to
contribute to transforming the idea of
Baade and Oort into reality. He was Sec-
Professor Adriaan Blaauw, ESO’s sec- retary of the ESO Committee (the proto-
ond Director General and one of the Council) from 1959 through 1963, a
most influential astronomers of the twen- period which included the signing of the
tieth century, passed away on 1 Decem- ESO Convention on 5 October 1962.
ber 2010. Blaauw became ESO’s Scientific Director
in 1968. In this position he also pro-
Adriaan Blaauw was born in Amsterdam, vided the decisive push which led to the
the Netherlands, on 12 April 1914. He creation of Astronomy and Astrophysics,
studied astronomy at Leiden University, which successfully combined and
under de Sitter, Hertzsprung and Oort, replaced the various individual national
and obtained his doctorate (cum laude) journals for astronomy, and today is
with van Rhijn at the Kapteyn Laboratory one of the leading astronomy research
in Groningen in 1946. His PhD thesis publications in the world. The article
was entitled “A study of the Scorpio– by Pottasch (1994) and the following trib-
Centaurus Cluster”. During his career, ute provide further details of Blaauw’s
Blaauw became renowned for his ground- creative leadership in the founding of the
breaking studies of the properties of European astronomical journal.
OB associations (groups of young, hot
stars) which contain the fossil imprint Blaauw was Director General from 1970 Figure 1. Adriaan Blaauw in 1973 while Director Gen-
through 1974. During this period several eral of ESO. From a photograph taken during a con-
of their star formation history. Perhaps his
tract-signing ceremony for building works at La Silla.
most famous work explained why some telescopes, including the ESO 0.5-metre
OB stars are found in isolation travelling and 1-metre Schmidt telescopes, began
at unusually high velocity: the so-called operating at ESO’s first observatory The Messenger may serve to give the
“run-away stars”. Blaauw proposed in site, La Silla, in Chile, and much work world outside some impression of what
1961 that these stars had originally been was done on the design and construction happens inside ESO.” The continuing
members of binary systems, and when of the ESO 3.6-metre telescope, which popularity of The Messenger is a testi-
one star in the binary experiences a had its first light in 1976. Blaauw decided mony to Blaauw’s foresight.
supernova explosion, its companion sud- that it was crucial for this project to move
denly ceases to feel the gravitational ESO’s Headquarters and the Technical After stepping down as Director General
pull that keeps it in its orbit and hence it Department from Hamburg to Geneva, to of ESO, Blaauw returned to Leiden,
“runs away” at its orbital velocity. benefit from the presence of the experi- where I had the privilege to be amongst
enced CERN engineering group. He also his students. He continued to play a
In addition to his distinguished research oversaw the development of the Proto- very important role in international astron-
career, Blaauw played a central role in col for Privileges and Immunities that is omy. He was President of the Interna-
the creation of ESO. In 1953, Baade and critical for ESO’s functioning. In May tional Astronomical Union from 1976 to
Oort proposed the idea of combining 1974 he launched The Messenger with 1979, during which period he used his
European resources to create an astro- the stated goal: “to promote the partici- considerable diplomatic skills to convince
nomical research organisation that pation of ESO staff in what goes on in China to rejoin the IAU. From 1979 to
could compete in the international arena. the organisation, especially at places of 1982 he served on the ESO Council on
Blaauw had returned to Leiden in 1948, duty other than our own. Moreover, behalf of the Netherlands. He retired from
Stuart Pottasch1 tronomers of PhD level or higher, with the This is where Adriaan, who was at that
result that 75 % of those present agreed time Scientific Director of ESO, came
that a new journal was desirable. Simi- in. He suggested, organised and imple-
1
apteyn Laboratorium, Groningen,
K lar meetings took place at a somewhat mented a legal status for the new jour-
the Netherlands higher level in other countries. At this nal. The basic idea was that ESO would
point there was much enthusiasm to begin make use of the fact that it was an offi-
a new journal. This led to a meeting of cial European organisation. Its adminis-
Adriaan has contributed to many fields of European astronomers on 8 April 1968. trative and legal services were made
astronomy. In the long years we have available to the journal through a formal
known and worked with each other there In spite of the enthusiasm for the Euro- agreement between ESO and the Board
are two aspects that may be less well pean astronomical journal, there were of Directors of the journal. This agree-
known and that I would like to highlight. rather difficult problems ahead. These ment was confirmed at the December
problems were of a practical nature and 1968 ESO Council meeting, just before
First of all is the deep interest he took in arose because the new journal was to the first issue of the new journal As
the formation of the European journal be a combination of journals published in tronomy and Astrophysics appeared in
Astronomy and Astrophysics. Adriaan various European countries. The indi January 1969. Individual countries
took part in the initial discussions, which vidual journals all had a rather different could now contribute financially to the
first began to take real shape in 1967 status. Some were owned by private journal, but ESO itself would carry no
and especially in 1968. The discussions publishers, some by astronomical organi- financial responsibility for the journal. At
in 1967 took place in several European sations. The French journals were owned the same time the Board would be en
countries. At first they were independent by the ministry in France, which could tirely independent of any influence from
of each other and took place because not contribute financially to a European the ESO side on its scientific policy.
of a general feeling in Europe that existing journal without an official treaty between
European astronomical journals were various countries. The timescale for But this did not end Adriaan’s connec-
not being read to the same extent as the such a treaty, essentially the creation of tion with the new journal. He accepted
American journals. In December 1967 an international organisation, was ex an invitation to become a member of
a meeting took place in France which pected to be long, and the discussions the Board of Directors and was in fact
was attended by almost all French as complicated. elected chairman of that body. The
importance of this can be seen in the fact where Adriaan was able to reconcile the to combine his scientific curiosity with
that the journal at the time was more differences. He was chairman of the A&A various administrative responsibilities
turbulent than it is at present. Not only Board for about ten years. without letting the one cloud out the
were there more disputes between indi- other. I think that he was able to do this
vidual scientists, there were also dis- A second aspect of Adriaan’s career because he approached science in
putes between different countries, espe- that is worth highlighting can be stated an unhurried and patient way. Astron-
cially about the refereeing. Some of more simply. He remained an active omy interested him; there was always
these disputes were brought to the Board scientist for his whole life, and was able time for it.
Raymond Wilson1 building on the CERN campus. The total would have been no active optics at ESO
staff in this fledgling technical division and, consequently, no NTT, VLT or E-ELT
of ESO cannot have numbered more than project. The readers of this tribute will
1
Rohrbach/Ilm, Germany ten or twelve. understand, I am sure, why I hold Adriaan
Blaauw in such high esteem.
A major contractual problem now emerged.
It is an honour and a pleasure to write a I had clearly understood, from Blaauw’s Finally, there was another aspect of
tribute to Adriaan Blaauw, whom I con- interview with me, that I would be the his leadership which I greatly admired.
sider to be an underrated Director Gen- leader of a newly-founded Optics Group, Once settled in with my new Optics
eral of ESO, above all through being in dealing with all optical aspects of tele- Group, things were going quite well for
the long shadow thrown by his successor scopes (at that time, mainly the 3.6-metre me and I was elected to be Staff Rep
Lodewijk Woltjer. telescope) and instrumentation. How- resentative. In Blaauw’s weekly one-day
ever, in the technical group, led by Svend visits to Geneva, I was always the first
I am unable to make any comments Laustsen, the responsibility for telescope person he visited. But he was not con-
regarding his achievements in the astro- optics was in the hands of a German cerned about my technical function,
nomical field. I am only going to comment astronomer, Alfred Behr, and for instru- which we had organised: he left that to
on my personal experience of his work mentation optics in the hands of Anders Laustsen, who had, of course, accepted
as ESO Director General, above all at the Reiz, a Danish astronomer. My role in the new Optics Group, in which Behr’s
time when I was engaged by him per this existing structure appeared only to work was now integrated under my lead-
sonally to create and head a new Optics be that of a senior assistant to them, ership. No, he visited me first as Staff
Group on the technical side of ESO’s above all to Alfred Behr. This situation Representative to ask if the staff were
activities. At this time, his office was still was unacceptable to me and not as I had content or whether there were any prob-
in Hamburg, where ESO was founded, understood the scope of the position I lems where he should intervene. This
above all, by Professor Otto Heckman, had accepted. proves again his absolutely fair and hu
for the 3.6-metre telescope project. This mane leadership!
project was intended to bring ESO up to Blaauw normally only came to Geneva
the level of the American telescopes with, for one day a week. However, when I Adriaan Blaauw was not only a great ESO
at that time, one of the larger telescopes rang him up and explained the gravity of Director General, he was also an admi
built in the post-Palomar (5-metre) era. the situation and the inevitability of my rable gentleman of impeccable integrity.
leaving ESO immediately if he could not
I left the firm of Carl Zeiss to go to ESO rectify it, he came at once and we dis-
in 1972, when Zeiss, at the time of a cussed the matter over another good
serious recession in German industry, lunch. I emphasised my clear position on
started laying off staff, including those of the matter and that I would try to return
my own Optical Design department, to Zeiss immediately, in spite of the bad
where I had conceived my idea of active situation there. Blaauw recognised that
optics. Professor Blaauw interviewed I was very serious and stated he would
me over a good lunch in Geneva. He inform Laustsen at once that a new Optics
immediately offered me a senior position Group would immediately be founded
at ESO in Geneva, where, through his under my leadership. Without this bold
initiative, ESO had a small barrack-type and clear direction by Blaauw there
Tim de Zeeuw1 now be submitted to the Brazilian Par nities for Brazilian high-tech industry to
liament for ratification. The signing of contribute to the ESO programme, in
the agreement followed its unanimous cluding the European Extremely Large
1
ESO approval by the ESO Council during an Telescope project. It will also bring
extraordinary meeting, by teleconference, new resources and skills to the organi
on 21 December 2010. sation at the right time for them to make
On 29 December 2010, at a ceremony a major contribution to this exciting pro-
in Brasilia, the Brazilian Minister of Sci- “Joining ESO will give new impetus to the ject,” added Tim de Zeeuw.
ence and Technology, Sergio Machado development of science, technology and
Rezende and the ESO Director General, innovation in Brazil as part of the consid- The president of ESO’s governing body,
Tim de Zeeuw signed the formal acces- erable efforts our government is making the Council, Laurent Vigroux, concluded:
sion agreement, paving the way for Brazil to keep the country advancing in these “Astronomers in Brazil will benefit from
to become a Member State of the Euro- strategic areas,” said Minister Rezende. collaborating with European colleagues,
pean Southern Observatory. Brazil will and naturally from having observing time
become the fifteenth Member State and “The membership of Brazil will give the at ESO’s world-class observatories at
the first from outside Europe. Since the vibrant Brazilian astronomical community La Silla, Paranal and APEX at Chajnantor,
agreement implies accession to an inter- full access to the most productive obser- as well as on ALMA, which ESO is con-
national convention, the agreement must vatory in the world and open up opportu- structing with its international partners.”
HH 30 2MASSWJ1207334-393254
778 mas
55 AU at 70pc N
200 AU
E
Detection of intermediate
Ten year large mass BH in GCs/Arches
programme Orbit of exo-
Stellar motions in nuclei
Jupiter/Uranus Detection of SR/GR effects of nearby galaxies
in cusp star orbits
10 0
10 2
10 4
10 6
Maximum distance from Earth (pc)
Key experiments with GRAVITY are illustrated (see
article by Eisenhauer et al. p. 16). Clockwise from
S27 S31 S19
S12 top left are: jet/discs in a nearby star-forming
S29 region; planet-brown dwarf binary; dust disc with
S5 S14 S17
S4 S2 central gap; Arches star cluster; M31 star discs;
S6
NGC 1068 outflow/narrow line region; modelling of
S39
a Galactic Centre flare; radial precession of stellar
S21 orbits; S-star orbits; nuclear star cluster and radio
S1 S13
S18 emission in the Galactic Centre. In the central
S8
S33
inset the horizontal axis denotes the maximum
S9 S24 distance from Earth, the vertical axis the time span
of the measurements.
Nikolai Piskunov1 and linear polarisations across their pro- This sets very stringent limits on the di
Frans Snik 2 files. For non-degenerate objects, the mensions of the polarimeter, because it
Andrey Dolgopolov 3 continuum is mostly unpolarised, which needs to fit in between various mecha-
Oleg Kochukhov1 offers a reliable intrinsic calibration that is nisms (calibration light feeds, calibration
Michiel Rodenhuis 2 necessary for measuring very weak fields, mirror and fibre cover) filling the adapter.
Jeff Valenti 4 but such measurements require a very The polarimeter consists of the enclo-
Sandra Jeffers 2 stable spectropolarimetric instrument. sure hosting a precision horizontal slider.
Vitaly Makaganiuk1 The slider holds two identical optical
Christopher Johns-Krull 5 The HARPS spectrograph at ESO’s tables installed perpendicular to the slid-
Eric Stempels1 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla is one of ing direction. Each optical table contains
Christoph Keller 2 the most successful spectroscopic as a full set of polarisation optics (Figure 1),
tronomical instruments ever built (Mayor separating the incoming light into two
et al., 2003). The exceptional temporal beams. Since the polarising beam-splitter
1
epartment of Physics and Astronomy,
D and spatial stability of HARPS makes position is fixed relative to the fibres, the
Uppsala University, Sweden it an ideal instrument for spectropolarim- polarisation of the incoming light needs
2
Sterrekundig Instituut Utrecht, Utrecht etry. The new polarimeter takes full ad to be converted to the frame of the beam-
University, the Netherlands vantage of the two optical fibres to bring splitter. This is achieved by rotating wave
3
Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, the collected light, split into two orthogo- plates in front of the beam-splitters: a
Crimea, Ukraine nal polarisations, from the Cassegrain half-wave plate for the linear polarimeter
4
STScI, Baltimore, USA focus of the 3.6-metre telescope to the and a quarter-wave plate for the circular
5
Rice University, Houston, USA HARPS spectrograph. Analysing polari- one. The relative intensity of the two
sations at the Cassegrain focus mini- beams at each wavelength carries the
mises the influence of instrumentation on information about the polarisation of the
The HARPS spectrograph can now the measurements. The new module, light.
perform a full polarisation analysis of called HARPSpol, allows sensitive and
spectra. It has been equipped with accurate measurements of both circular The polarising beam-splitters consist
a polarimetric unit, HARPSpol, which and linear polarisations of stellar light of a Foster prism (a modified Glan–
was jointly designed and produced as a function of wavelength, at high spec- Thompson polariser). The primary beam
by Uppsala, Utrecht and Rice Univer tral resolution. In this article we give a suffers from crystal astigmatism, which
sities and by the STScI. Here we pre- short presentation of the polarimeter and is corrected by a cylindrical lens. The
sent the new instrument, demonstrate show some results from the first year of secondary beam is deviated by 45º.
its polarisation capabilities and show operation. Beam-channelling prisms align the opti-
the first scientific results. cal axis and the focus of the secondary
beam with the second HARPS fibre.
HARPSpol — What’s inside the box? The selected optical scheme solves two
Introduction
HARPSpol is installed inside the Casse Figure 1. Schematic of the HARPSpol optical design.
Spectropolarimetry is one of a very few grain adapter, located directly below the Left: the view in the sliding direction. Right: side view
direct ways of detecting and studying primary mirror of the 3.6-metre telescope. of the two polarimeters.
magnetic fields. Magnetic fields are pre-
sumed to play crucial roles in all kinds
of objects and environments in space,
stirring turbulence, transporting angular
momentum, converting kinetic energy 6@UDOK@SD
to radiation, controlling plasma motion,
etc. Magnetic fields create polarisation in /NK@QHRHMF
"HQBTK@QONK@QHLDSDQ
AD@LROKHSSDQ
and thus polarisation measurements
LL
Integration
Once installed at the Cassegrain adapter,
HARPSpol was integrated with the HARPS ' 1/2
instrument control electronics and soft- ' 1/2ONKBHQBTK@QjAQD
!
ware. When inserted into the optical path, ' 1/2ONKKHMD@QjAQD
!
HARPSpol shifts the focus of the tele-
scope by approximately 2 mm, which is
compensated for by moving the sec
ondary mirror. Figure 2 shows HARPSpol 6@UDKDMFSGML
installed inside the Cassegrain adapter.
Spectropolarimetry is performed by Figure 3. The total throughput from the telescope to
the detector with and without HARPSpol is shown.
selecting the corresponding template(s)
The sharp drops are not real: they are due to hydro-
in the observing software. Calibration and gen lines that are treated differently in spectro
science templates are available for cir photometry and spectropolarimetry.
cular and linear polarimetry. The science
l
-TKK5 l
-TKK0 l
-TKK4
Figure 4. The combined average
p rofile for intensity and polarisation
(lower and middle plots) for α Cen A.
Left panel shows circular polarisation
measurements (Stokes parameter V).
Middle and right panels are for linear
polarisations. The null profile is shown l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l
uppermost. ∆5JLR ∆5JLR ∆5JLR
2SNJDR(
)#
template allows multiple exposures to to the lower throughput of the “sky fibre” plot in each panel of Figure 4 shows the
be taken in the selected mode (circular (used to carry one of the polarised so-called null spectrum, obtained by
or linear) for a sequence of wave-plate beams), but still sufficient to reach rather modif ying the analysis in such a way as
angles. The full complement of polarisa- faint targets. to destroy the polarisation signal in the
tion characteristics can be registered incoming light (Bagnulo et al., 2009).
in six or twelve exposures, with the latter Systematic errors limit both the polari- What remains reflects the spurious polari-
offering intrinsic control over spurious metric sensitivity and the accuracy. The sation induced inside the instrumentation
polarisation signals. The HARPSpol pipe- sensitivity is the weakest polarisation or by the data reduction.
line then processes the data and the detectable with HARPSpol. After accu-
final products include the Stokes param- mulating enough photons we expect We do not expect any detectable polari-
eters as a function of wavelength. to see spurious polarisation present in sation signal from α Cen A and Figure 4
the light coming to the telescope. We test shows that our new instrument does not
this by observing a bright source and detect or induce any polarisation above
HARPSpol: Performance collecting many photons in a series of the level of 10 –5, which is on a par with
many short exposures. Figure 4 shows the best solar polarimeters like ZIMPOL
During commissioning we have meas- the results of the test for an inactive solar- (Ramelli et al., 2010). The accuracy (the
ured several characteristics of HARPSpol. type star, α Cen A, where we reach the level at which the HARPSpol measure-
The most important ones for the ob- median signal-to-noise ratio of 2 400 per ments match the true polarisation signal)
server are the total throughput of the sys- CCD column. Besides combining multi- is assessed by observing objects with
tem and the polarimetric sensitivity. The ple exposures we also derive the mean known polarisation spectra. Our observa-
throughput (Figure 3) was measured Stokes profiles using the least squares tions of γ Equ demonstrate the high
by observing spectrophotometric stand- deconvolution (LSD) technique (Donati et accuracy of HARPSpol. γ Equ is a well-
ards, reducing the data, rebinning it al., 1997; Kochukhov et al., 2010), which studied magnetic star showing linear and
to match the resolution of the spectro- takes advantage of the fact that most circular polarisations. The lack of notice
photometry and deriving the sensitivity of the spectral lines are affected by mag- able rotation makes γ Equ an excellent
curves for each fibre. The total efficiency netic fields in a similar way. This increases polarisation standard. Figure 5 shows the
with HARPSpol is somewhat lower due the signal-to-noise even further. The top comparison of the HARPSpol polarisation
l
l
l
l
l
∆5JLR ∆5JLR )#l
spectra of this star with those taken Another example is a chromospherically a pipeline producing science-grade data
with the ESPADONS spectropolarimeter active cool dwarf ε Eri. This nearby star products. The tests and applications
(Donati et al., 2006) at the Canada harbours at least two planets and a dust to various types of objects have demon-
France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) with a belt in orbit around it. Polarisation meas- strated high sensitivity and a low level
resolving power of 67 000. urements of stars hosting planets may of systematic effects, making HARPSpol
provide an important check for the pres- an ideal tool for detecting and studying
ence of starspots that can mimic radial weak magnetic fields, reconstructing field
HARPSpol: First results velocity variations. Detection of polarisa- topology and many other magnetic phe-
tion can reveal signatures of star–planet nomena.
One of the obvious applications of magnetic interactions. Our polarisation
HARPSpol is in the study of the topology measurements for ε Eri are presented
of magnetic fields on chemically pecu- in Figure 7. Again, we applied the LSD References
liar (CP) stars. The goal is to understand technique to enhance the signal-to-noise Bagnulo, S. et al. 2009, PASP, 121, 993
the relationship between the field geome- ratio and we see an unambiguous sig- Donati, J.-F. et al. 1997, MNRAS, 291, 658
try and the surface/depth distribution nal in circular polarisation. A simplistic Donati, J.-F. et al. 2006, Solar Polarization 4,
of chemical elements. This task requires interpretation with a longitudinal field ASP Conf. Series, 358, 362
Kochukhov, O. et al. 2010, A&A, 524, 5
a series of observations well spread geometry shows field strength changing Kotov, V. A. et al. 1998, ApJ, 116, 103
over the rotation period so as to see all from – 5.8 to +4.7 Gauss with median Mayor, M. et al. 2003, The Messenger, 114, 20
visible parts of the stellar surface. Figure uncertainty of 0.1 Gauss! These values Ramelli, R. et al. 2010, SPIE, 7735, 1
6 shows an example of one measure- are comparable to the disc-averaged Semel, M. et al. 1993, A&A, 278, 231
Snik, F. et al. 2008, SPIE, 7014, 22
ment in such a series for a cool magnetic magnetic field of the Sun (Kotov et al., Snik, F. et al. 2010, arXiv: 1010.0397
CP star HD 24712. Circular and linear 1998).
polarisation were detected in all 13 phases
covering the whole stellar rotation (bad
weather prevented the collection of one Prospects
set of circular polarisation data) and one
can easily follow the evolution of polari HARPSpol adds powerful polarimetric
sation spectra with stellar rotation. The capabilities to the suite of ESO high-
low level of the noise makes the data resolution spectroscopic instruments. It
quite adequate for reconstructing the field is fully integrated into the ESO opera-
topology. tional environment and is equipped with
Bojan Nikolic1 than temperature fluctuations. ALMA is observed astronomical data can be cor-
John Richer1 attempting to correct the effects of these rected for the effect of path fluctuations.
Rosie Bolton1 fluctuations through a combination of
Richard Hills 2 two techniques: frequent observations of
calibration sources; and direct measure- Water vapour radiometers
ment of atmospheric properties along
1
strophysics Group, Cavendish
A the line of sight of each of the 54 12-metre The water vapour radiometers (WVRs)
Laboratory, University of Cambridge, diameter telescopes using mm-wave are the devices that measure accu-
United Kingdom radiometers that measure emission of the rately the absolute brightness of down-
2
Joint ALMA Observatory, Santiago, 183 GHz water vapour line. ALMA is welling radiation along the lines of sight of
Chile the first telescope to employ phase cor- the antennas. The prototype WVRs for
rection based on mm-wave water vapour ALMA were developed by a collaboration
radiometers. between the University of Cambridge
Of the many challenges facing ALMA, and Onsala Space Observatory. After
one of the greatest is overcoming Water in the atmosphere is poorly mixed successful laboratory and field testing of
the natural seeing limit set by the atmos- and the concentration (and phase) of the prototypes, an industrial partner
phere to achieve very high resolution water varies rapidly with position in the (Omnisys Instruments AB, Sweden) was
images. Its longest antenna separations atmosphere and with time. The underly- contracted for delivery of the produc-
(baselines) permit ALMA to synthesise ing reason for this is of course that all tion units. The production stage is now
the effect of a single antenna with a three phases of water are accessible in already fully complete and ALMA has
diameter exceeding 15 km, but an ac the range of temperatures and pres- taken delivery of radiometers for all of the
curate radio “adaptive optics” system sures typical on the ground and in the planned 54 12-metre antennas.
is required to ensure ALMA’s images atmosphere, leading to various localised
are diffraction limited. With initial test sources and sinks of water vapour. The ALMA radiometers are unique
data now available from the first ALMA Even at a very high and dry site like among the radiometers used for phase
antennas in Chile, we describe current ALMA, changes of up to 50 % in line-of- correction in that they measure sky
progress towards this goal. sight water vapour can be observed brightness around 183 GHz, as opposed
in a matter of minutes. Additionally, water to 22 GHz, which is the spectral region
vapour has a high effective refractive where most other WVR systems are
Atmospheric limitations to radio index at mm and sub-mm wavelengths: designed to observe. This has a number
astronomy one millimetre of precipitable water of advantages, primarily based on the
vapour retards radiation by an equivalent very high strength of the water vapour
ALMA aims to synthesise an antenna of about seven millimetres of path in line at 183 GHz (see Figure 1 for plots of
with an effective diameter of over 15 km: vacuum. The combination of poor mixing brightness in typical conditions), which
this would have a diffraction-limited and high refractive index leads to a is about 150 times stronger than the line
resolution of 15 milliarcseconds at a fre- corruption of the wavefront of incoming at 22 GHz. This means that fluctuations
quency of 300 GHz. (Note, however, astronomical radiation. When observing in water vapour content produce much
that for most projects with ALMA, we with an aperture synthesis array like higher, more readily observed fluctuations
anticipate that a more modest resolution ALMA, these wavefront errors lead to in the observed brightness at this fre-
of 50–100 milliarcseconds will be re phase errors in the recorded visibilities. quency. Besides this, the high strength
quested by scientists.) In comparison, the of the line means that radiation from
uncorrected radio seeing at this fre- In order to correct for these errors, each sources other than atmospheric water
quency would typically limit the resolution of ALMA’s 12-metre diameter antennas vapour has a smaller influence on the
of images to 700 milliarcseconds if no has an accurate millimetre-wave radiome- predicted phase corrections. For exam-
adaptive optics corrections were applied ter that measures the radiation pas- ple, clouds, spill-over past the primary
(see Evans et al., 2003). sively emitted by water molecules in the reflector of the antenna and man-made
atmosphere along the line of sight of radio frequency interference (RFI) all have
The seeing at sub-millimetre and milli the antenna. The radiometers cover fre- a smaller effect relative to the strength of
metre wavelengths arises due to atmos- quencies around the 313 -> 220 rotation the line.
pheric (specifically, tropospheric) insta line of the para water molecule, which is
bilities that lead to fluctuations of the centred at 183.3 GHz. This line lies about Measurements at these higher frequen-
refractive index and consequent path 200 K above the ground state and so is cies do, however, also present a number
errors in the propagating wavefront. As ideal for tracing atmospheric properties. of challenges:
explained in a previous Messenger arti- The principle of radiometric phase cor- 1. Design and production of the hardware
cle (Nikolic et al., 2008), the process rection is that these measurements can is more complex and expensive,
is analogous to that affecting the optical be used to compute the quantity of water requiring custom components and high
seeing, but the dominant contribution vapour along the line of sight of each precision machining.
to the refractive index fluctuations is from antenna and, consequently, the equiva- 2. Calibration is more difficult as it needs
inhomogeneities in water vapour, rather lent path error. Using these estimates the to be based on very frequent (10 Hz
3A*
water vapour line varies
with changes in total
contents of the water
vapour, the atmospheric
temperature and atmos-
pheric pressure. The
lower right panel shows
the nominal filter pass-
ν&'Y ν&'Y bands for the ALMA
183 GHz water vapour
radiometers. The detec-
tion system is double-
sideband and so only
the average signal of the
two filters symmetric
around the line centre is
measured.
3A*
3A*
ν&'Y ν&'Y
in the case of ALMA) observation of we read out at 1 Hz, which is fast enough and we do not need to try to retrieve the
physical internal calibration loads. to capture essentially all the path varia- total extra path due to the water vapour
3. The water vapour line is close to satu- tions. in the atmosphere. Additionally, frequent
ration and thus subject to non-linear observation of point-like sources will
effects, leading to significantly more The task of the phase correction soft- allow ALMA to calibrate the expected
complex software requirements. ware is to turn these 1 Hz measurements “zero” phase and it is only the departures
in four filters into phase rotations to be from this that are important.
Over the past twelve months, extensive applied to the observed astronomical sig-
testing of the first WVR systems has nal. The first step in the analysis is to use The close relationship between fluctua-
been carried out at the ALMA site. The the four observed sky brightness tem tions in sky brightness and the path
preliminary results of these tests suggest peratures, together with ancillary weather errors is illustrated in Figure 2, which is
that the development and production information, to make an inference about based on recent observations by ALMA.
stage has successfully met these chal- the total quantity, temperature and pres- During this observation, the telescope
lenges. So far, the units installed on the sure of the water vapour. This is impor- was tracking a quasar (i.e., a point-like
ALMA antennas appear to be perform- tant because the profile of the water va source) at a known location on the sky,
ing well in terms of noise, stability and pour line is a strong function of these so for a perfect interferometer we would
reliability. parameters, as shown in Figure 1, and expect to measure visibilities with con-
because the near-saturation of the line stant phase and amplitude. The phase
means that the observed sky brightness we actually measure is therefore an esti-
Technique is not in general linearly related to the mate of the differential path along the
total path error. two lines of sight due to atmospheric
The WVRs provide measurements of fluctuations. This is plotted on the hori-
sky brightness in the four filters illustrated The second stage of analysis is to turn zontal axis of the diagrams, and on the
in the lower right plot in Figure 1. As the fluctuations in the observed sky vertical axis we plot the difference in
ALMA WVRs employ a double-sideband brightness into estimates of fluctuation of observations by the WVRs on these two
mixing system, only the average bright- effective path to each of the antennas antennas. What can be seen in Figure 2
ness of the sky at frequencies symmetric in the array. We only consider the fluctua- is that there is a high degree of correla-
around the centre of the line is meas- tions because, as an interferometer, tion between the two quantities, meaning
ured. The maximum readout frequency ALMA is sensitive to only the difference in that as long as we can forecast the slope
from the WVRs is 5 Hz, although normally path errors to each of the antennas of this correlation then we can convert
∆3!*
∆3!*
∆3!*
∆3!*
l
l
l
l l l l
δ+§L δ+§L
fluctuations of WVR outputs to path fluc- (This programme also supports develop- – The software is easy to distribute as a
tuations for a general observation. ment of Band 5 receivers for ALMA [see binary package that works in conjunc-
Laing et al., 2010], and on-the-fly interfer- tion with CASA.
The final stage of the analysis is to turn ometry techniques).
estimates of path fluctuations into a The software (wvrgcal) for phase cor
phase correction that needs to be applied The software we have been developing is rection is available freely under the Gnu
to the astronomical data. This is gener- designed primarily for off-line phase cor- Public License in both source code and
ally straightforward, although it is impor- rection, i.e., it operates on the observed binary formats1. We also operate a
tant to take into account the dispersive data after these have been stored on mailing list2 for discussion, improvement
effects of the atmosphere and also to disk. Some of the principal features of our suggestions and community support of
ensure that rotations applied using esti- software are: the software.
mates derived from WVR data interact – It is closely integrated with the official
correctly with other calibrations applied ALMA off-line data reduction suite
to the astronomical data. (CASA), which allows it to be used in a Tests of phase correction
straightforward manner by scientists.
–T he software has a rapid development Since about January 2010, ALMA has
Development of phase correction soft- cycle, with new features and improved been collecting significant amounts
ware for ALMA under FP6 algorithms appearing regularly. of test observations designed to measure
– It uses a robust Bayesian statistical the effectiveness of WVR phase correc-
Our recent involvement in WVR phase inference framework to derive optimal tion and to guide the further develop-
correction for ALMA has been primar- corrections. ment of algorithms used to translate sky
ily through development of software and –W hen certain WVRs are missing from brightness measurements to the phase
algorithms that process the raw data an observation, the software has rotations. In order to fit with the numerous
observed by the WVRs and use these to the ability to interpolate available data other ALMA commissioning activities,
calibrate and correct the astronomical to provide phase correction estimates most of these observations were taken
data. This work is separate from the base- at those antennas lacking accurate with the antennas in relatively compact
line ALMA software and has been funded WVR measurements. configurations, i.e., most data are with
as an ALMA enhancement by the Euro- baselines in range 30–100 m, with some
pean Union Framework Programme 6. data on baselines of up to 600 m. These
data have already provided a good dem- Figure 3. Path fluctua-
tion estimated from
onstration of effectiveness of phase cor-
WVR data for two ob
rection on these relatively modest base- serving sessions. Times
lines. However, we know that the phase are expressed in UT,
correction will be most challenging on so the upper panel cor-
responds to night-time,
long baselines (up to 15 km in length for
δ+ƅL
while the lower panel
ALMA); this is because the root structure to a time around mid-
function of the atmosphere increases as day. Note that the verti-
roughly the 0.6 power of baseline on typi- cal scale is different
between the two panels.
cal ALMA baselines. Long baseline test
data are awaited to investigate the effec-
tiveness of the technique when ALMA is l
making its highest resolution images.
3HLDR
Two typical examples of path fluctuations
computed from WVR observations are
shown in Figure 3. For these plots we
have used data from three antennas,
shown by different colours in these plots.
Since these are absolute path estimates
δ+ƅL
J2000 Declination
06
08
08
10
10
12
12
14
14
–44°0500
16
05 38 51 .0
h m s
50 .6 50 .4 50 .2 50 .0
s s s s
49 .8
s
49 .6
s
05 h38 m51s.0 50 s.6 50 s.4 50 s.2 50 s.0 49 s.8 49 s.6
J2000 Right Ascension J2000 Right Ascension
Figure 6. Un-deconvolved images of a quasar (which It can be seen that the fringes in the map to use, so they can automatically remove
is unresolved) with ALMA in a very heterogeneous
made from corrected data (right panel) the distorting effects of the atmosphere
configuration: four of the antennas were very close
together while the fifth was about 650 metres away. are much sharper and have much higher and allow them to focus on the novel sci-
The heterogeneity leads to the rapid modulation contrast compared to the map made ence in their ALMA datasets. Nonethe-
in the north–south direction, which corresponds to from uncorrected data. After deconvolu- less, ALMA already has made great pro-
the long baseline. The image on the panel on the
tion (and completing the baseline cover- gress towards this goal, and can already
left was made with no phase correction while the
image in the panel on the right has had WVR phase age) this increase in sharpness directly claim to have an effective and ground-
correction applied. It can be seen that the phase corresponds to an increase in resolution breaking adaptive optics system.
fluctuations, when uncorrected, lead to an almost and fidelity.
complete wash-out of fringes on the long baseline.
Acknowledgements
Future challenges The results shown in these plots are of course the
The phase errors can be seen to be result of the efforts of many tens, if not hundreds, of
reduced by an order of magnitude, to a The data presented in this article repre- people who have been involved in ALMA over the
level where meaningful averaging of the sent by far the most extensive tests of years. Phase correction tests require everything in
the ALMA system to be working perfectly, so a great
data can be done. the capabilities of 183 GHz phase correc- deal of credit is due to all of those involved, from
tion ever attempted. They demonstrate the designers of the systems to those keeping the
The example shown in Figure 5 is less that the technique should increase signifi- observatory running in Chile. The specific work
extreme — the uncorrected data have cantly the sensitivity of ALMA, by reduc- described here, including the analysis of test data
and development of the wvrgcal program has
a phase root-mean-square deviation ing the decorrelation caused by phase been carried out by the Astrophysics Group at the
of about 20 degrees. However, even in errors, and increase the fidelity of ALMA Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge,
these much more stable conditions, images by ensuring visibility phases are as part of the ALMA Enhancement Programme, an
application of WVR phase correction more accurately measured. In addition, enhancement to the baseline ALMA project. This
work is funded by the European Union’s Sixth
leads to much improved phase stability. they should improve the efficiency of Framework Programme.
Also notable in this example is that ALMA operations, by permitting observa-
variations in uncorrected phase at longer tions to take place when atmospheric
timescales are also very effectively re instabilities cause rapid large amplitude References
duced by WVR phase correction. phase fluctuations. Evans, N. et al. 2003, Site properties and stringency,
ALMA Memo Series, 471, The ALMA Project
As an illustration of the effect of WVR- However, much work remains to be done. Laing, R. et al. 2010, The Messenger, 141, 41
based phase correction on imaging, It is vital that ALMA can demonstrate Nikolic, B. et al. 2008, The Messenger, 131, 14
in Figure 6 we show an un-deconvolved that its phase correction strategy works
(“dirty”) map of a point source with to specification in a wide range of atmos- Links
ALMA in an unusual configuration with pheric conditions and on baselines all
1
north-south baselines much longer the way out to the maximum allowed by ource code for wvrgcal available at: http://www.
S
mrao.cam.ac.uk/~bn204/alma/wvrsoft.html
than the others. We have made the map the configuration designs. In addition, 2
Mailing list for wvrgcal updates: https://lists.cam.
both with the raw data, and with the it remains a challenge to ensure that the ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/mrao-wvrgcal
data after WVR-based phase correction. software tools are easy for astronomers
from four UTs or Auxiliary Telescopes combiners (Jocou et al., 2010) and the highlights from the ongoing prototype
(ATs), measuring the interferograms from coherently combined light is dispersed in development: the world’s first K-band
six baselines simultaneously (see Figure 1). two spectrometers (Straubmeier et al., (2.2 µm) integrated optics beam combiner
The instrument has three main compo- 2010). A low resolution spectrometer pro- for four telescopes, a high-speed photon-
nents: the IR wavefront sensors (Clénet et vides internal phase- and group-delay counting IR detector, and a novel laser
al., 2010); the beam-combiner instru- tracking (Choquet et al., 2010) on the ref- metrology concept.
ment; and the laser metrology —system erence star, and thus enables long expo-
(Bartko et al., 2010). Figure 2 gives an sure times on the science target. Three GRAVITY’s beam combiner is an inte-
overview of the GRAVITY instrument. For spectral resolutions with up to R ~ 4000 grated optics chip, the optical equiva-
clarity, only two of the four telescopes — are implemented in the science spec- lent of a microelectronic circuit, which
i.e. one out of six baselines — are shown. trometer, and a Wollaston prism provides combines several functions in a single
basic polarimetry. component. It combines the advantages
The GRAVITY IR wavefront sensors will of compactness and stability, and pro-
be mounted in the Coudé rooms of GRAVITY will measure the visibility of vides outstanding visibility accuracies.
the UTs and will command the existing the reference star and the science object Integrated optics is widely used in tele-
Multiple Application Curvature Adaptive simultaneously for all spectral channels, communications up to 1.6 μm, but does
Optics (MACAO) deformable mirrors. and the differential phase between the not cover the astronomically interesting
The system can work on either of the two two objects. This information will be used K-band. GRAVITY has thus launched its
beams (on-axis or off-axis) behind the for interferometric imaging exploring own development programme between
PRIMA star separators. Any additional the complex visibilities, and for astrome- IPAG, LETI, and CIP to port the technol-
tip/tilt from the beam relay down to the try using the differential phase and ogy to longer wavelengths. Following a
VLTI laboratory will be corrected by a group delay. All functions of the GRAVITY series of prototypes implementing indi-
dedicated laser-guiding system. Low fre- beam-combiner instrument are imple- vidual functions, we now have the world’s
quency drifts of the field and pupil will mented in a single cryostat for optimum first K-band integrated optics beam com-
be corrected by GRAVITY’s internal stability, cleanliness, and thermal back- biner for four telescopes in hand (shown
acquisition and guiding camera (Amorim ground suppression. The internal path in Figure 3).
et al., 2010). The interplay of these sys- lengths of the VLTI and GRAVITY are
tems will guarantee an unperturbed and monitored using dedicated laser metrol- The second major breakthrough for
seeing-corrected beam at the entrance ogy. The laser light is back-propagated GRAVITY is the recent success in the
of the beam-combiner instrument in from the beam combiner and covers development of high-speed IR photon-
the VLTI laboratory. The interferometric the full beam up to the telescope spider counting detector arrays. All current
instrument will work on the 2-arcsecond above the primary mirror. astronomical IR fringe trackers and wave-
(for UTs) or 4-arcsecond (for ATs) VLTI front sensors suffer from the high read-
field of view. Both the reference star and out noise of their detectors, which is ten
the science object have to lie within this Highlights from the instrument develop- or more electrons per pixel at frame
field of view. The light of the two objects ment rates of a few hundred Hz. The GRAVITY
from the four telescopes is coupled (Pfuhl detectors overcome this noise barrier
et al., 2010) into optical fibres for modal A detailed description of GRAVITY’s by avalanche amplification of the photo-
filtering, to compensate for the differential subsystems can be found elsewhere electrons inside the pixels. Last year,
delay and to adjust the polarisation. The (Gillessen et al. [2010] and above SELEX-Galileo and ESO demonstrated
fibres feed two integrated optics beam references). Instead, we present a few for the first time a readout-noise of less
Figure 3. A recent
breakthrough in inte-
grated optics is shown
(left) and an example
image from the new
avalanche photodiode
detector arrays (right);
both to be used in
GRAVITY.
4 60 20
Primary Secondary
image image
40
2 15
20
Flux (mJy)
10
R/Rs
µas
0 0
–20
5
–2
Newtonian – 40
Observed orbit orbit
0
–4 – 60 0 50 100 150 200
–4 –2 0 2 4 60 40 20 0 –20 – 40 – 60 Time (min)
R/Rs µas
than three electrons with their prototype answer with GRAVITY: What is the nature tuations in the accretion flow (Figure 4).
detector array (see image in Figure 3). of the flares in Sgr A*? What is the spin The jet model seems natural from the
Based on this success, ESO and SELEX– of a BH? How can we resolve the “Para- presence of jets in active galactic nuclei.
Galileo are currently developing a next dox of Youth” of the stars in its vicinity? The orbiting hot-spot model would be a
generation detector, which is tuned to Even tests of fundamental physics may natural explanation for the observed
GRAVITY’s wavefront sensor and fringe come into reach with GRAVITY: Does the quasi-periodicity in the light curves of
tracker. Another example of a major theory of general relativity hold in the flares and associated changes of the IR
breakthrough is in GRAVITY’s laser strong field around SMBHs? Do BHs really polarisation. However, the long-term light
metrology. It is based on a novel concept, have “no hair”? curves are well described by a pure, red
and traces the starlight through the ob power-law noise, indicating that statistical
servatory, to allow the optical path to be fluctuations in the accretion flow are
measured at any desired point of the pupil Uncovering the true nature of the SgrA* responsible for the observed variability.
up to the primary mirror. This concept flares Time-resolved astrometric measurements
and its implementation have been demon- with GRAVITY will settle the debate
strated in three technical runs at the VLTI. The Galactic Centre BH is surprisingly (Eckart et al., 2010). Even without push-
faint — its average luminosity is only ing GRAVITY to its ultimate performance,
about 10 –8 of the Eddington luminosity, the observed distribution of flare posi-
Science cases for GRAVITY emitted predominantly at radio to sub- tions and its periodic variation will distin-
mm wavelengths. On top of this quasi- guish between these models.
In the following sections the science steady component there is variable emis-
cases for GRAVITY are briefly outlined, sion in the X-ray and IR bands. Some
beginning with the broad range of sci- of this variable emission comes as flares, Measuring spin and inclination of the
ence opportunities that have opened up typically a few times per day, lasting for Galactic Centre black hole
at the Galactic Centre of the Milky Way. about one to two hours, and reaching the
The Galactic Centre is by far the closest brightness of massive main-sequence The mass of the Galactic Centre BH is
galactic nucleus and the best studied stars. The three most plausible explana- well known from stellar orbits. If the cur-
SMBH (Genzel et al., 2010). There are still tions for the origin of these flares are: rently favoured orbiting hot-spot model
a number of fundamental open issues a jet with clumps of ejected material; hot is correct, GRAVITY will take the next
and just to name a few that we want to spots orbiting a BH; or statistical fluc step and measure its spin and inclination.
These measurements are more difficult early-type main sequence stars. It is significantly enlarge the number of stars
because the astrometric signature from currently not understood how these stars with known eccentricities, and will dis
the spin is a factor few less than the or have formed or moved so close to the tinguish between the formation scenarios
bital motion and lensing effects. However, SMBH, because the tidal forces should unambiguously (see Figure 5).
the combined signal from the periodic have prevented in situ formation, and
light curves and astrometry is much because these stars are too young to
stronger. Already the simple correlation have migrated so far within the timescale Testing general relativity in the strong field
between the observed position variation of classical relaxation. Precise orbit regime
and flux variability is giving the first in measurements with GRAVITY offer a
sights into the source geometry. The next route to resolving this Paradox of Youth. The unprecedented astrometric accuracy
step is a simultaneous fit to the observed In particular measurements of the orbital of GRAVITY may even allow the theory
motion and light curve to quantify the eccentricities can distinguish between of general relativity to be tested in the (so
underlying model parameters (Figure 4). the various scenarios. The currently far) unexplored strong field around
Finally, the periodic flux can be used favoured Hills scenario, in which massive SMBHs. The observed orbit of a hot spot
to trace the orbital phase to coherently binaries are scattered down to the BH on the last stable orbit will be domi-
co-add measurements from multiple and one component is ejected in a three- nated by strong gravitational effects like
flares, such that higher order signatures body interaction with the BH, will lead gravitational lensing and redshift (Fig-
can be directly identified. to predominantly high eccentricities. In ure 4). GRAVITY observations of the flar-
contrast, the competing migration sce- ing BH will thus directly probe spacetime
nario, in which the stars migrate from cir- in the immediate vicinity of the event
Resolving the Paradox of Youth of the cumnuclear stellar discs, will result mainly horizon of the BH. The stellar orbits will
Galactic Centre stars in low initial eccentricities. First results be notably affected by higher order gen-
from adaptive optics observations slightly eral relativistic effects, for example the
Most stars in the central light-month of favour the Hills scenario, but the sig relativistic periastron shift and the Lense–
the Galactic Centre are young, massive nificance is still marginal. GRAVITY will Thirring precession of the orbital angular
momentum around the BH spin axis
10 000 (Figure 6). These effects will be strongest
NACO S31
for stars within the central light-week,
S19
0.4 S27 S12
which will be observed with G RAVITY in
1000
S5
S29
its interferometric imaging mode. In the
0.2 S2
S14 S17 most optimistic case, GRAVITY may even
S6
σa (µas/yr 2 )
0.4
Figure 5. Solving the Paradox of Youth of the Galac-
tic Centre stars. GRAVITY will be able to measure
accelerations, i.e. individual orbits, out to about
0.2 10 arcseconds distance from the SMBH (upper left)
Hills and will significantly enlarge the number of S-stars
(upper right) with precise eccentricities (from
0.0 Gillessen et al., 2009). The improved eccentricity
distribution (lower) can distinguish between the vari-
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 ous formation scenarios proposed for stars in the
Eccentricity central light-month.
t orb (yrs)
t prec/t orb
100 000
1000 Galactic
Centre
100
GRAVITY, 2 year programme Omega
Centauri
10
Even the broad-line region may come in mass BHs in massive, dense star clus- nearby systems, for which a suitable
reach for GRAVITY. It is seen in those ters. Recent searches in globular clusters astrometric reference star is available.
active galactic nuclei for which we have a show evidence for such IMBHs (Fig- Combined with spectroscopy, these
direct view onto the SMBH. The size ure 8). However, the sphere of influence observations will provide the orbital ele-
of the broad-line region can currently only of the postulated BHs is typically less ments and distance of the system, as
be measured indirectly, looking at the than a few arcseconds, such that only well as the mass of the two components.
time delay between the variations of the a few stars are available for these statisti- In addition GRAVITY will characterise
ultraviolet continuum and the emission cal studies. GRAVITY will dramatically the wind from the stellar companion at a
lines. Broad-line regions of nearby active change this situation in a few suitable scale of a few stellar radii. The physical
galactic nuclei are typically smaller than cases for which accelerations can be de properties of this wind are particularly
0.1 milliarcseconds, and thus too small to tected, thus directly probing the gravi interesting as it is the main source for
be resolved in GRAVITY’s images. But tational potential without suffering from feeding the compact object.
the astrometric accuracy of GRAVITY will the small number statistics of velocity
allow measurement of the velocity gra dispersion measurements.
dient across it. This will strongly constrain Masses of the most massive stars and
the broad-line region geometry and brown dwarfs
determine dynamically the mass of the X-ray binaries
central BH. There is still a discrepancy of up to a fac-
X-ray binaries are the best place to study tor of two in the mass estimates for the
neutron stars and BHs. These neutron most massive main sequence stars. It is
Intermediate mass black holes stars and BHs are very faint when iso- not known what the maximum allowed
lated, but they can be observed as part mass for a star is. Comparison of spectra
The tight correlation between the bulge of a X-ray binary, some of which are with atmospheric models yields upper
mass of a galaxy and the mass of the bright enough for GRAVITY. We expect mass limits of typically 60 MA, whereas
central SMBH suggests that the rapid that it will be possible to detect the orbital evolutionary tracks and observed lumi-
formation of a spheroidal stellar system displacement from the compact compan- nosities suggest a mass of up to 120 MA.
also collects up to about 1 % of the initial ion in the interferometric closure phase. Clearly, dynamical mass estimates are
mass in a central BH. Such a core col- Even the absolute astrometric displace- required. Quite a number of spectro-
lapse and collisional build-up may have ment of the binary system’s photo-centre scopic binary O-stars are known in the
also led to the formation of intermediate will be observable with GRAVITY in a few cores of starburst clusters like Arches,
GRAVITY
0.100 Radial velocity 10.0
measurements
1.0
0.010
0.1
0.001
0.01 0.10 1.00 10.00 100.00
Separation a (AU)
Roberto Gilmozzi1 MacMynowski (Caltech/TMT), Buddy In the meantime, Brazil has signed the
Markus Kissler-Patig1 Martin (Steward Observatory Mirror Lab), formal accession agreement becom-
Harald Nicklas (University of Gottingen), ing ESO’s 15th Member State (see the
Roberto Ragazzoni (INAF), Francois announcement by Tim de Zeeuw on
1
ESO Rigaut (Gemini), Luc Simard (HIA/TMT), p. 5 and the ESO press release 10502),
Doug Simons (Gemini) and Larry Stepp bringing new resources and skills to the
(TMT). Six weeks before the review, organisation at the right time for them
The European Extremely Large Telescope the Telescope Construction Proposal to make a major contribution to this excit-
(E-ELT) recently achieved a critical mile- with over 300 ancillary documents was ing project.
stone by passing its Phase B final design made available to the Board, to which
review. The top-level question posed to it responded with over 300 written ques- All the pieces are now in place to go for
the Review Board was whether the tech- tions and comments. The review ran Council approval this year and to break
nical maturity of the design of the E-ELT over four days during which the design ground on Cerro Armazones in 2012,
is sufficient to warrant the programme was probed in great depth. The outcome then head for first light of the biggest eye
entering the construction phase. It was was praise, constructive feedback and on the sky at the end of this decade.
the unanimous conclusion of the Review the unanimous agreement that the E-ELT
Board that the answer to this question is is ready to enter the construction phase.
“Yes”. Links
The Review Board not only addressed 1
xecutive summary of E-ELT Board report:
E
This comprehensive design review of technical issues but also commented on http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/eelt/docs
the E-ELT project was held at ESO Head- cost/contingency and the schedule (the 2
Press release on Brazil joining ESO:
quarters in Garching on 21–24 Septem- executive summary of the board report http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1050/
ber 2010. The Review Board consisted of can be downloaded1). The project saw
11 distinguished members: Steve Shect- it as due diligence to address in more
man (Carnegie/GMT, chair), Chuck Claver depth some of these points in a Delta
(NOAO/LSST), Matt Johns (GMT), Doug Phase B study, which is now underway.
Robert Fosbury 1 the atmosphere, can be rich and varied. This article is about the effect of ozone
George Koch 2 The processes that result in this palette on the colour of the twilit sky and, in the
Johannes Koch 2 are geometrically complex, but comprise same vein, its appearance as the strong-
a limited number of now well-understood est telluric absorption feature in the visi-
physical effects. This understanding was ble spectrum of the Earth as it would be
1
ESO not gained easily. From the time when seen by a distant observer watching it
2
Lycée Français Jean Renoir, München, early humans first consciously posed the transit in front of the Sun. We present and
Germany question: “What makes the sky blue?”, to analyse spectrophotometric observations
the time when the processes of scatter- of sunset and also discuss observations
ing by molecules and molecular density of the eclipsed Moon reported by Pallé et
Although only a trace constituent gas fluctuations were elucidated, thousands al. (2009).
in the Earth’s atmosphere, ozone plays of years passed, during which increas-
a critical role in protecting the Earth’s ingly intensive experiments and theories
surface from receiving a damaging flux were developed and carried out (Pesic, Ozone
of solar ultraviolet radiation. What is not 2005).
generally appreciated, however, is that Ozone (O3 or trioxygen) is an unstable
the intrinsically weak, visible Chappuis Most physicists, if asked why the sky is allotrope of oxygen that most people can
absorption band becomes an important blue, would answer with little hesitation: detect by smell at concentrations as
influence on the colour of the entire sky “Because of Rayleigh scattering by mole low as 0.01 parts per million (ppm). When
when the Sun is low or just below the cules.” With the Sun above the horizon present in the low atmosphere as a
horizon. This effect has been explored in a clear sky, this is worth a good mark. pollutant, it has many damaging effects,
using spectra of the sunset and also During twilight, however, things get more including to lung tissue. At higher alti-
of the eclipsed Moon; phenomena that complicated. tudes, typically between 15 and 40 km,
involve a similar passage of sunlight however, it produces the beneficial effect
tangential to the Earth’s surface. This Twilight has a special place in the life of of preventing damaging ultraviolet (UV)
geometry will also be relevant in future an observational (optical/near-infrared) radiation from reaching ground level. The
attempts to perform transit spectros- astronomer who is privileged to witness it Hartley band, extending between 200
copy of exo-Earths. from some of the most spectacular sites and 300 nm, absorbs very strongly in this
on the planet. The geometry of the illumi- region with a maximum at 255 nm. The
nation of the atmosphere at twilight is UV absorption extends, more weakly, in
Introduction also very pertinent to the study of transit- the Huggins band up to around 360 nm.
ing exoplanets, when the path of star- In the visible spectrum, a radial path
The colours seen by an observer of the light is tangential to the planetary sphere. through the atmosphere exhibits very little
Earth’s sky, from within or from without ozone absorption but, as the column
increases at greater zenith distances, the
Chappuis band begins to have an appre-
R. Fosbury
sets is far bluer than can ever be hour before sunset. In order to remove the spectral shape. The initial values were
achieved by Rayleigh scattering alone the Fraunhofer lines originating in the chosen based on the geometry of the
and simple models demonstrate that, solar atmosphere, the observed spec- observation, but then adjusted to give the
in the absence of ozone, it would be a trum is divided by one taken five hours best match. The aerosol and ozone scal-
pale grey–yellow shade at this time. before sunset. This shows the very ing factors can be chosen independently
Observations of the sky and/or the set- strong telluric water and diatomic oxygen from those applied to the direct solar
ting sun with a spectrometer show what absorptions expected at large zenith path. Each sky path has a source term
a profound effect the ozone has on distances. It also shows the very broad that is proportional to the sum of the
the telluric spectrum, as it far exceeds dip, centred at about 585 nm, due to Rayleigh and aerosol cross-sections and
the effects produced by water and dia- the Chappuis band of ozone. Note the a negative exponential sink term that
tomic oxygen absorption (so familiar coincidence of a pair of water bands represents ozone absorption and molec-
to optical spectroscopists) on the visible with the central structure of the ozone ular and aerosol scattering out of the
spectral energy distribution. Chappuis absorption between 560 and beam, both scaled for pathlength. Finally,
600 nm. This ozone feature is promi- the relative contributions of direct sunlight
nent in the spectrum of sunset viewed and skylight are adjusted to take account
Spectral measurements and models with a visual spectroscope. of the balance imposed by the large input
aperture.
We have made a series of specrophoto- In order to model the overall shape of this
metric measurements of both the sky and spectrum we have used an analytic rep- Although this model serves the purpose
the Sun, covering a period from several resentation of molecular Rayleigh scatter- of a rather complicated fitting function,
hours before sunset up to a short period ing, taken from Allen (1973), expressed rather than an ab initio calculation,
afterwards. These have been made under per atmo-cm (thickness of atmospheric it does give a very good feel for how the
both clear and overcast skies using a layer in cm when reduced to standard skylight we see is influenced by the
fibre input to a spectrometer, which re- temperature and pressure, STP). This geometry it has to negotiate on its path
sults in an effective input aperture with a gives a scattering cross-section which through the atmosphere. We stress that
full width half maximum (FWHM) of 25°. varies as wavelength to the power – 4.05 the complexity derives from the geometry
The spectrometer, an Ocean Optics Jaz, to take account of the scattering and rather than the physics of absorption and
covers a wavelength range of 350– the wavelength variation of refractive scattering.
1000 nm in 2048 spectral channels with index. It is normalised to give an optical
a spectral resolution of 1.5 nm (FWHM). depth of 0.098/atmo-cm at 550 nm. For Figure 2 (upper) shows the separate
Exposure times range from 3 to over dust and aerosols, we use Allen’s wave- components of direct sunlight (brown
100 ms per integration with each obser- length exponent of –1.3, normalised to line) and the combination of a set of
vation being the average of 32 or 64 in- give an optical depth of 0.195/atmo-cm at different paths involving a single scatter-
dividual exposures. 550 nm, which corresponds to normally ing from the sky (dark blue line). The
clear conditions. For the ozone cross- combination of the two is shown as a red
section we use data from the project line, and the ratio of the data to the model
Sunset Spectroscopy & Molecular Properties of gives a normalised telluric spectrum
Ozone 2, normalised to give an optical containing the O2 and H2O features that
Reported here are data collected from depth of 0.0268 at 550 nm for 0.3 atmo- we do not model (light blue line). Figure 2
the top of a tower (the Appleton Water cm (taken as the standard ozone depth). (lower) shows the same model except
Tower 1) in Sandringham, Norfolk, Eng- for the ozone contribution that is set to
land on the evening of the 27 June 2010 We consider two types of atmospheric zero for both the direct and the scattered
with the axis of the input fibre tracking path to compute the spectrum ratios re- paths.
the position of the Sun to within a few lative to the high Sun. The first is the
degrees. The scene just preceding sun- direct line of sight to the Sun, where we
set is shown in Figure 1, where it can be account for Rayleigh and aerosol scatter- Lunar eclipse
seen that the sky is partially cloudy and ing out of the beam and ozone absorp-
quite hazy on the horizon, suggesting tion. The optical depth is derived from the The deep, copper-coloured illumination
a relatively high atmospheric aerosol con- atmospheric path as a function of solar of the eclipsed Moon represents the
centration. With our large angular input zenith distance, choosing scaling factors extinction and forward scattering of the
aperture, and especially at the shorter of order unity for the aerosol and ozone Sun’s light by a tangential passage
wavelengths, the scattered light from the contributions relative to the Rayleigh through the Earth’s atmosphere summed
sky becomes the major contributor to scattering. over the entire range of altitudes where
the signal when the Sun is below a few the optical depth is significant (see Fig-
degrees in altitude. The second contributor is scattered ure 3 for a sequence of photographs of
skylight summed from a set of twelve the 2010 winter solstice lunar eclipse).
Figures 2a and 2b show a spectrum equal logarithmically-spaced atmospheric This geometry is similar to that which
(black line) constructed as an average of paths up to 100 atmo-cm. Each path is applies when a transiting planet is seen
four observations taken during the half given a weighting factor chosen to match against the disc of its parent star. This
6@UDKDMFSGML
2TM
RJXLNCDK
$WSHMBSDCRTM
2B@SSDQDCRJX
3DKKTQHB
2TMRDSNARDQU@SHNM
1@SHNR
6@UDKDMFSGML
Klaus M. Pontoppidan 1 time in the history of astronomy. We now It can be argued that the lack of under-
Ewine van Dishoeck 2, 3 know that planetary systems are com- standing of planet formation and the
Geoffrey A. Blake 4 mon in our Galactic neighbourhood, and paucity of detected protoplanets relative
Rachel Smith 5 that many of them are very different to mature planetary systems primarily
Joanna Brown 6, 3 indeed from the Solar System: some results from a deficiency in observational
Gregory J. Herczeg 3 giant planets orbit very close to their par- capabilities, rather than insufficient theo-
Jeanette Bast 2 ent stars — the so-called hot Jupiters, retical tools or ideas, which currently are
Avi Mandell 7 while others orbit at larger distances from quite advanced and in dire need of con-
Alain Smette 8 their parent stars. As planet detection straints. It is clear that planets do form,
Wing-Fai Thi 9,10 methods become increasingly refined, protoplanetary discs must contain plane-
Edward D. Young 5 the hunt for true Earth analogues is in full tesimals and planetary embryos, and gas
Mark R. Morris 5 swing, and few doubt that it is only a giants must accrete most of their mass
William Dent 9 matter of time before we discover the first during the gas-rich phase of the disc. In a
Hans Ulrich Käufl 8 terrestrial (rocky) planets orbiting their nutshell, the problem is one of spatial
stars at distances suitable for life as we resolution. The nearest protoplanetary
know it. discs are located at distances in excess
1
Space Telescope Science Institute, of 100 pc, with a few exceptions, mean-
Baltimore, USA Yet, we are far from having a comprehen- ing that protoplanets are expected to
2
Leiden University, the Netherlands sive understanding of the formation of exist on angular scales of 10–100 milliarc-
3
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial planets and planetary systems. In parallel seconds — or less. The aim of our ESO
Physics, Garching, Germany with the emergence of exoplanetary large programme was to characterise the
4
California Institute of Technology, science, the field of circumstellar discs physical and chemical conditions as well
Pasadena, USA around young stars has come into full as the kinematics of these planet-forming
5
University of California at Los Angeles, swing. While discs have long been pre- zones of discs.
USA dicted to be the inevitable outcome of
6
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for the collapse of a rotating cloud, firm proof
Astrophysics, Cambridge, USA of their existence came only in the mid- Probing gas in the inner disc
7
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 1990s with the Hubble Space Telescope
Greenbelt, USA optical images of proplyds in Orion and Gas-rich discs are not flat, but flare in
8
ESO the detection of gas in Keplerian rotation such a way that the disc surface is
9
University of Edinburgh, Scotland, at millimetre wavelengths. Surveys have exposed to direct energetic stellar radia-
United Kingdom shown that many young stars retain gas- tion. This gives rise to a warm layer of
10
University of Grenoble, France rich circumstellar discs with enough gas, extending from the inner edge of the
material to form a planetary system for a disc out to at least tens of AU. Lines trac-
few million years after the formation of the ing the temperatures and densities preva-
The inner regions (< 10 AU) of discs sur- star. lent within 10 AU are therefore found at
rounding young pre-main sequence infrared (IR) wavelengths (3–40 μm). The
stars are thought to be places of active However, the connection between discs, topmost layer is atomic, as harsh ultra
planet formation. The disc surfaces exoplanetary systems and the formation violet radiation dissociates molecules
are traced by molecular emission lines of planets is not at all understood yet. faster than they can form. Deeper in the
in the infrared. We have carried out Much of the observed structure of exo- disc, as densities rise and as the gas
a spectroscopic 3–5 μm survey at the planetary systems is thought to be the becomes shielded from the stellar radia-
highest spectral resolution (as high as result of the protoplanets interacting with tion, molecules begin to dominate the
R = 100 000) using CRIRES on the VLT, their parent disc. This is particularly true gas. Even deeper, temperatures drop
and have used the data to map the for the hot Jupiters, which are thought to rapidly, and many molecular species
dynamics and chemistry of molecular migrate from a birthplace at disc radii of freeze out, thus becoming invisible at IR
gas, with the aims of constraining disc several astronomical units (AU) to a frac- wavelengths, due to a combination of
evolution and learning more about the tion of an AU, by way of angular momen- high opacities and low excitation condi-
process of planet formation. In this tum exchange with a gas-rich disc. The tions. The intermediate, so-called warm
paper, we provide a brief overview of idea that circumstellar discs are actively molecular layer, on the other hand, gives
our CRIRES observing campaign and forming planetary systems, at least up rise to a veritable forest of molecular
discuss the results obtained. to the point of making gas giants, is so emission lines. The most prevalent spe-
strong that these discs are often labelled cies is CO, but other carbon-bearing
as being protoplanetary, in spite of the molecules such as CO2, C2H2 and HCN,
The era of exoplanetary science, starting fact that, as of now, no unambiguous and oxygen-dominated molecules, H2O
with the first radial velocity detection of a protoplanet within a circumstellar disc and OH, can be detected as well.
planet orbiting a star other than our own has ever been seen.
Sun more than 15 years ago, is certain to The fundamental rovibrational band of
be remembered as a truly remarkable CO centred in the atmospheric M-band
A CRIRES large programme Until the completion of the European Pushing beyond the diffraction limit
Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT),
The CO rovibrational band was the CRIRES offers, to our knowledge, the Since 0.1 arcseconds still corresponds to
main target of an ESO large programme highest combined spatial and spec- at least ~ 10 AU at the distance of our
(179.C-0151) carried out with the Very tral resolution available for molecular line sources, a significant fraction of the sur-
Large Telescope CRyogenic high-resolu- imaging. The typical adaptive optics (AO)- vey was dedicated to the develop-
tion InfraRed Echelle Spectrograph assisted imaging resolution at 3–5 μm ment of a spectro-astrometric mode for
(CRIRES) over the course of about is 0.1–0.2 arcseconds and the resolving CRIRES that can provide even higher
30 nights during the period 2007–2009. power is of order R = 95 000. The aim spatial resolution (Pontoppidan et al.,
Significant additional time was allocated of the large CRIRES programme was to 2008; 2011). Infrared spectro-astrometry
to survey water and OH lines at around fully exploit these unique capabilities is a pioneering capability of CRIRES
3 μm, as well as exploratory forays to explore the dynamics and chemistry of that exploits the combination of AO-
to search for H3+, HCN, CH4 and NH3. warm molecular gas as an ingredient assisted imaging, stable optics and high
for planet formation. Central questions spectral resolution to image lines at sub-
The final dataset 1 includes high quality identified at the beginning of the pro- milliarcsecond resolution, several orders
spectra of about 100 young, mostly low- gramme included: What is the timescale of magnitude below the formal diffrac-
mass, stars, spanning a range of evo for the dissipation of (molecular) gas in tion limit. Spectro-astrometry works by
lutionary stages, from sources still sur- protoplanetary discs? What is the distri- measuring the centroid offset of a spec-
rounded by a natal envelope, to discs bution of the molecular gas, as com- trum as a function of wavelength (or line
in the process of clearing out their inner pared to the dust, in the terrestrial planet- velocity), essentially generating position–
regions, the final stage at which inner forming zones of discs? Are radial motions velocity diagrams. There is no fundamen-
disc molecular gas can be observed. In present in discs and, if so, what drives tal limit to how accurately astrometric
total, nearly 600 individual spectral set- them? Are inner discs turbulent, and can offsets can be measured, but in practice
tings were observed. The targets were this turbulence be measured and quan the accuracy achieved with CRIRES is
selected from nearby star-forming clouds, tified? Is there a relation between embed- 0.1–0.5 milliarcseconds (a fraction of an
including Ophiuchus, Lupus, Chamaeleon, ded discs and those surrounding T Tauri AU!) for the 4.7 μm CO band for typical
Corona Australis, Taurus, Serpens and stars? What is the temperature structure protoplanetary discs around solar-mass
Orion. The main selection criterion was of inner envelopes and discs? What is the stars, es-sentially limited by photon
the IR brightness of the sources, typically extent of hot chemistry producing water statistics. We developed, in collaboration
from Keplerian discs obeys a size-lumi-
6HCD@MFKDVHMC
nosity relation, such that more luminous
stars have larger line-emitting regions:
the size of the CO emitting region is ¦
found to be proportional to the square
root of the stellar luminosity (see Figure
cal equilibrium dust temperatures of
gas from many, and perhaps more than instrument concept METIS (Brandl et al., 1
educed spectra are made available for download
R
half, of the bright protoplanetary discs 2010). Finally, both CRIRES and METIS at: http://www.stsci.edu/~pontoppi/
around T Tauri stars in the southern hem- will be highly complementary to ALMA,
isphere, as well as a significant sample of which can observe the dust distribution
low-mass protostars. The high quality of down to ~ 1 AU but is limited in its imaging
the data and the richness of the spectra of the gas to radii larger than a few AU.
Céline Péroux1 medium. Of particular importance are the observations made so far. As a result
Nicolas Bouché 2, 3 processes through which these galaxies of these issues, only 15 spectroscopically
Varsha Kulkarni 4 accrete gas and subsequently form stars. confirmed identifications of DLA/sub-DLA
Donald York 5 The accretion of baryonic gas is com- galaxies with measured NH i are known
Giovanni Vladilo 6 plex. Recently, several teams have real- at cosmological redshift z < 1 and five at
ised that, in halos with mass < 1011.5–12 z > 1.
MA baryonic accretion may not involve
1
aboratoire d’Astrophysique de
L the traditional shock heating process. Imaging spectroscopy at near-infrared
Marseille, OAMP, Université Aix- But the observational evidence for ac (NIR) wavelengths with adaptive optics
Marseille & CNRS, France cretion is scarce. A related signature is can be used to solve the above-men-
2
Department of Physics, University of that the total amount of neutral gas in tioned problems efficiently. The advan-
California, Santa Barbara, USA the Universe, H i, is almost constant over tages afforded by this technique are
3
L aboratoire d’Astrophysique de most of the cosmic time (Péroux et al., manifold:
Toulouse–Tarbes, CNRS, Observatoire 2005; Noterdaeme et al., 2009), unlike 1) The contribution from the quasar is
Midi-Pyrénnées, France the history of the star formation rate, deconvolved from the absorber in
4
Department of Physics and Astronomy, which peaks around z = 1. This shows the spectral dimension, thus allowing
University of South Carolina, Columbia, the importance of ongoing global gas virtually zero impact parameters to
USA accretion and the conversion of atomic be reached if the flux of the galaxy is
5
Department of Astronomy and Astro- gas to molecular gas in the star formation greater than the quasar continuum flux.
physics and The Enrico Fermi Institute, process. 2) The data provide a spectrum of the
University of Chicago, USA absorbing galaxy for immediate red-
6
INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di One way to tackle these problems is to shift confirmation.
Trieste, Italy relate the H i gas and the stars in galax- 3) The detection of nebular emission lines
ies. While radio observations now provide such as Ha, a robust estimator of star
detailed constraints on the H i content formation rate, redshifted to the NIR
A complete picture of galaxy formation of large samples of galaxies, they are still at z > 0.6, can give clues to the stellar
can only be obtained by detailed limited to redshift z ~ 0. Conversely, the content of the galaxy and metallicity
study of the processes by which galax- study of quasar absorbers, the galaxies of the warm gas producing the nebular
ies convert their gas into stars. One probed by the absorption they produce in lines.
approach is to relate the H i gas and the a background quasar spectrum, is insen- 4) The spatially resolved kinematic data
stars in galaxies. Damped and sub- sitive to the redshift of the object. Indeed, provide information on the dynamical
damped Lyman-a systems (DLAs), the H i content of the strongest of these state of the system.
which are galaxies probed by the ab- quasar absorbers, the so-called damped
sorption they produce in the spectra of Lyman-a systems, have been measured The powerful combination of an 8-metre
background quasars, are purely in samples of several hundreds of objects class Very Large Telescope (VLT) and
selected on H i gas, but identifying the from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). the SINFONI instrument has been suc-
galaxy responsible for the absorber cessfully pioneered by Bouché et al.
with more traditional methods remains (2007). These authors have detected 67 %
challenging. Integral field spectroscopy A new observational technique (14 out of 21) of the systems in a sam-
provides an efficient way of detecting ple of Mg ii absorbers at z ~ 1. The Ha
faint galaxies near bright quasars, fur- Nevertheless, studying the stellar con- detections are used to derive star forma-
ther providing immediate redshift con- tent of all these systems turns out to be tion rates of the order 1–20 MA/yr.
firmation. Here, we report on the de rather challenging: the galaxies that Their observations are sensitive to fluxes
tection of DLA and sub-DLA systems produce such DLA absorption may be F(Ha) > 1.2 × 1017 erg s –1 cm –2, corre-
identified in Ha emission with VLT/ faint, thus requiring deep observations sponding to star formation rates of ~ 0.5
SINFONI at near-infrared wavelengths. to detect their stellar/interstellar emission; MA/yr. Interestingly, lower detection
in addition, they have small angular sepa- rates are found at higher redshifts around
rations from the bright background qua- z ~ 2 (Bouché et al., 2011). Here, we
Tremendous progress has been made sars, which makes it difficult to disentan- report the first results of our H i-selected
over the last decade in establishing a gle the light of the galaxy from that of survey aimed at detecting the host gal
broad cosmological framework in which the quasar. Any broadband identification axies via their Ha signature. In the pre-
galaxies and large-scale structure de of a candidate absorber galaxy requires sent work, we report the detections of
velop hierarchically over time, as a result follow-up spectroscopy to confirm that two DLA/sub-DLAs at z ~ 1 for which
of gravitational instabilities in the den- the emission redshift of the object corre- NH i, and hence absorption metallicities,
sity field. The next challenge is to under- sponds to the absorption redshift meas- are known from high resolution spec
stand the physical processes of the ured in the quasar spectrum. This time- troscopy out of five quasar fields with
formation of galaxies and structures and consuming step is sometimes missing, intervening absorbers (one with two sub-
their interactions with the surrounding thus complicating the interpretation of the DLAs) searched.
%KTWDQFRRPBLLHBQNMR
The observations presented here were 0lY@AR
g alaxy with the ex-
carried out with the NIR integral field pected H, [N ii]λ6585
spectrometer SINFONI on Unit Telescope 'α
and [S ii]λ6718 doublet
l positions indicated at
4 of the VLT during three separate
zem = 1.00946. The dot-
observing runs (ESO 79.A-0673, 80.A- ted spectrum at the bot-
:- ((< :- ((<
0330 and 80.A-0742). In Péroux et al. tom of the panel is the
(2011a), we have reported detections of :2 ((< sky spectrum indicating
the position of the OH
a DLA with log NH i = 20.36 +/– 0.11
sky lines. In this case,
at zabs = 1.009 towards Q0302-223 (see [S ii] is not detected and
Figure 1) and a sub-DLA with log NH i = an upper limit is derived
19.48+0.05 -0.06 at zabs = 0.887 towards due to contamination by
an OH sky line.
Q1009-0026 (see Figure 2). We detect
l l
galaxies associated with the quasar
absorbers at impact parameters of 25 6@UDKDMFSGLHBQNMR
and 39 kpc away from the quasar sight-
lines, respectively.
Figure 2. The inte-
grated spectrum of the
For the field of Q0302-223 where the 0lY@AR
l galaxy with the ex-
quasar is bright enough, we have used pected Hα, [N ii] and [S ii]
%KTWDQFRRPBLLHBQNMR
Comparison with other detected that small impact parameters (b < 30 kpc) with impact parameter. It is also clear
absorbers dominate and that very few galaxies are that abundances reported in absorption
identified beyond 40 kpc, which matches are not well-correlated with emission
We have made a careful reappraisal of the search radius in our SINFONI study abundances.
published reports of detections of gal well. Removing the outlier with log NH i =
axies responsible for DLA and sub-DLAs. 21.71 and b = 44 kpc, we find a weak
Figure 3 shows the relation between negative correlation, where higher NH i Metallicity
several of the properties. The triangles absorbers have smaller impact parame-
represent limits and the measurements ters. Also it is interesting to note that Unlike most of the objects in Figure 3,
reported in the present article are circled the highest NH i column density seems to and other objects reported at these red-
in red. From this figure, it appears that have higher L/L* ratio. The Spearman shifts, the galaxies that we have de-
the detected objects in the sample are rank correlation coefficient indicates that tected in this study have well-known
mostly low luminosity and low star forma- the two are weakly correlated. Although absorption metallicities from high resolu-
tion rate galaxies, yet the galaxies have a the scatter is large, the reported ab tion UV spectroscopy. Using the N2
wide range of luminosities. We also note sorption metallicities do not vary much parameter (Pettini & Pagel, 2004) based
Table 1. Summary of the properties Quasar Z abs logN(H i) [Zn/H] Impact F(Ha) Lum(Ha) SFR
of two Lyα absorber galaxies de- (atoms/cm2) parameter (erg/s/cm2) (erg/s) MA/yr
tected with SINFONI. (kpc)
Q0302–223 1.009 20.36 +0.11
– 0.11 – 0.51 ± 0.12 25 7.7 ± 2.7 × 10 –17 4.1 ± 1.4 × 10 41 1.8 ± 0.6
Q1009–0026 0.887 19.48 +0.05
– 0.06 – 0.25 ± 0.06 39 17.1 ± 6.0 × 10 –17 6.6 ± 2.3 × 10 41 2.9 ± 1.0
1
dance); and metallicity with respect to solar meas-
0
ured in emission, Zem (H ii abundance). The triangles
represent limits and the measurements reported in
log L/L*
0
–1
–2
–3
0
zabs
–1
–2
0.5
0
zem
– 0.5
–1
0 1 2 3 19 20 21 22 0 1 2 –2 –1 0 – 3 – 2 –1 0 1 –2 –1 0
Redshift log N(H I) log b log L/L* log SFR Zabs
0
KNF.'
Figure 4. Metallicity with respect to
solar measured in emission at impact
parameter b = 0 and in absorption
at given impact parameters in kpc.
The two metallicities arising from the
,DS@KKHBHSXVHSGQDRODBSSNRNK@Q
l
l l l l
Figure 6. Hα flux map, Hα velocity field and Hα ve- troscopy to compute a metallicity map of the quasar absorbers, the SINFONI data
locity dispersion maps of the quasar absorbers
Q1009-0026. Figure 5 presents the allow for a study of the dynamical prop
Q0302–223 (upper) and Q1009–0026 (lower). The
colour scale indicates the flux in erg s –1 cm –2 in the metallicity in units of 12+log(O/H) derived erties of the galaxies. We extracted maps
Hα flux map on the left and the velocities and veloc- from the N2 parameter (Pettini & Pagel, of the velocity-integrated line fluxes,
ity dispersions in km/s for the middle and right set 2004), i.e. the ratio of [N ii]l6585.27/Ha. relative velocities, and velocity dispersion
of panels. North is up and east is to the left. The thin
The metallicity gradient appears to be from the reduced data cubes (Figure 6).
black contours indicate the position of the quasar.
rather uniform on that scale, as expected Using these maps, critical information on
from the magnitude of the gradients the dynamical state and properties of
there have been detections of inverted observed in such objects (see Figure 4). the galaxies associated with quasar ab
gradients, interpreted as a signature sorbers can be derived.
of accretion, but on a much smaller dis-
tance scale (Cresci et al., 2010). Kinematics The galaxy associated with the
zabs = 1.009 DLA towards Q0302-223
Finally, we use the spatial information In addition to the identification and redshift shows little sign of rotation or significant
made available to us from the 3D spec- confirmation of the galaxy responsible for amounts of dispersion. It has an axis
Tom Shanks1 Faint blue galaxies at high redshift flowing gas powered by the star forma-
Rich Bielby1 tion in the central region. In this way the
Leopoldo Infante 2 The early scientific results from these sur- Lyα emission is scattered and absorbed
veys were intriguing. Prior to the confir- by outflowing material, leading to the
mation of these faint blue objects as z > 2 asymmetry and the velocity offsets
1
epartment of Physics, Durham
D galaxies, there was a perception that between emission and absorption lines.
University, United Kingdom star formation should be suppressed at
2
Departamento de Astronomía y z > 1 in line with predictions from cold Further evidence for star formation feed-
Astrofísica, Pontificia Universidad dark matter models. This was supported back was also found in results show-
Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile by the sparsity of observations of z > 1 ing LBGs close to the line of sight of z > 3
galaxies at the time, which was in fact a QSOs, which appeared to be associ-
selection effect, i.e. the redshift desert ated with a deficiency of neutral hydrogen
We have completed the largest spectro- due to the [O ii] line leaving the optical in the Lyman-α forest. The suggestion
scopic survey of Lyman-break galax- bands had conspired to produce false was that this was caused by the LBG out-
ies (LBGs) at z ≈ 3, using the uniquely agreement with the model predictions. flows heating the surrounding gas
wide field of the VLT VIMOS multi- (Adelberger et al., 2003). However, sub-
object spectrograph. The survey now Metcalfe et al. (1991, 1996) suggested sequent observations then contradicted
contains about 2100 galaxy redshifts that these faint blue galaxies, which this conclusion with no such deficit
over the range 2 < z < 3.5 and is being dominate blue galaxy counts, may well being observed in the larger, albeit some-
used to investigate gas outflows from be high redshift galaxies with their ultra what lower redshift, sample presented by
galaxies and large-scale structures violet light from star formation redshifted Adelberger et al. (2005).
at z ≈ 3. These results are having an into the visible bands. Only with the
immediate impact on theories of galaxy arrival of larger telescopes (such as Keck
formation and producing new tests and the Very Large Telescope, VLT) VLT VIMOS LBG Redshift Survey
of the standard cosmological model. In armed with sensitive slit spectrographs
particular, we find: further evidence did it become possible to cross the A key advantage of the VLT VIMOS is
from their clustering that LBGs may be desert and pick up the UV light and, cru- its large field of view. In one pointing, it
the progenitors of spiral galaxies; new cially, the Lyman-α emission line as it covers a field of view of approximately
evidence for gas outflows from star- entered the optical bands at z > 2. At this 17 × 18 arcminutes, considerably larger
forming galaxies as required by theoret- point, it was found that a large fraction than the field of view of approximately
ical galaxy formation models; and of faint blue galaxies were faint because 6 × 8 arcminutes of the LRIS on Keck.
new evidence for gravitational infall of they were at high redshifts and not in Taking advantage of this, the VLT LBG
galaxies into clusters at a rate that is trinsically subluminous lower redshift gal- survey has observed a total of 18 VIMOS
consistent with the standard cosmology. axies. These galaxies, selected via the fields, covering a total area of around
Lyman-break technique, and therefore 2.6 square degrees (Bielby et al., 2011;
termed Lyman-break galaxies, were more Crighton et al., 2011). A subset of the
The Lyman-break technique uses the clustered than expected, leading to LBG fields is shown in Figure 1, where
redshifting of the Lyman-α forest and suggestions that they were the progeni- spectroscopically confirmed LBGs, iden-
Lyman-break into the U-band to detect tors of early-type galaxies. They were tified using VIMOS, are denoted by
2.5 < z < 3.5 galaxies. Use of this tech- predicted to have a morphology that was blue circles and z ≈ 3 QSOs from a range
nique originated in the mid-1980s when it chaotic, appropriate for proto-galaxies, of sources are shown by red stars. In
was applied to find z > 3 QSOs (Shanks however in more recent years the results total the survey comprises around 2100
et al., 1983). Further development of show that in fact many may have rotation spectroscopically confirmed z > 2 gal
the method for selecting z > 3 galaxies curves rather like spiral galaxies. axies, and in Figure 2 we show a number
came in the subsequent years as of example spectra of R ≈ 24.5 mag
deeper optical imagery became available LBGs taken using VLT VIMOS.
(Guhathakurta et al.,1990; Steidel & Starburst outflows from forming galaxies?
Hamilton, 1993). However, the first signifi- The spectroscopic observations that
cant galaxy redshift surveys at z ≈ 3 Interestingly, the Keck LBG redshift data form the survey have relied on high
did not come until the mid-1990s when showed evidence for significant veloc- quality deep imaging, which for the most
surveying of these objects was begun ity offsets (≈ 600 km/s) between Lyman-α part has been obtained using the
with the Keck LRIS spectrograph (Lyα) emission and absorption lines origi- MOSAIC imagers at the NOAO KPNO
(e.g., Steidel et al., 1996) and secure gal- nating in the interstellar medium (ISM) in and CTIO facilities. These large MOSAIC
axy redshifts could be determined. the LBG spectra, whilst at the same time imagers have provided the survey with
the Lyα emission appeared to be asym- 35 × 35 minute coverage of the fields
metric. These observations led to the (a large enough area to allow four VIMOS
development of the shell model for LBG pointings per imaging dataset — the
structure in which a central star-forming lower panels of Figure 1), each of these
region is surrounded by a shell of out- being centred on a bright z ≈ 3 QSO.
#DB
)
l
λ ML
¦
l
l
/*25+345$2 +Xα
. 5( l
#DB
)
λ ML l
¦
l
l
¦ l
0T@R@QR +!&R
1DCRGHES 1 )
Figure 1. Left: The distribution in redshift and decli- Other metal lines can be seen at longer wavelengths. More recently, a larger area capability has
nation of LBGs and QSOs in two of our nine survey These hydrogen and metal absorption lines allow
been added using the MegaCAM instru-
fields. LBGs spectroscopically confirmed using us to probe the intergalactic gas in the vicinity of the
VIMOS are shown by blue circles; QSOs spectro- star-forming LBGs. Right: The same two fields, ment at CFHT, which provides a field
scopically observed using AAT AAOmega or VLT now shown projected onto the sky. The dashed grey of view for the deep imaging of 1 × 1 de
UVES are shown by filled red stars. The UVES spec- boxes show the VIMOS observation areas for the grees (allowing nine VIMOS pointings
tra of the central QSO is pictured above each cone VLT LBG Survey. The upper field contains nine VIMOS
for each set of imaging data — the upper
and these show the Lyman-α absorption forest pointings and the lower field contains four VIMOS
extending below the QSO Lyman-α emission line. pointings. panels of Figure 1). Using these combi
nations of data, the VLT LBG survey has
broken new ground in the observation of
large-scale structure of galaxies at z ≈ 3.
Y
+Xα Figure 2. LBG spectra
taken with VIMOS as
2H (( " ((
2H (( In order to probe the intergalactic medium,
. 5( . (
2H (( 2H (5 " (5 %D ((
( (( part of the VLT LBG sur-
+Xβ
vey. The LBGs have the survey also requires spectroscopic
R ≈ 24.5 mag and the observations of z ≈ 3 QSOs, which trace
+Xα
Y
typical VIMOS on-sky out the hydrogen content of the Universe
exposure time was
. 5( 2H (( " ((
. (
2H ((
2H (5 2H ((
" (5
%D ((
( (( along the line of sight. Where available
+Xβ 3 hrs, using the low res-
olution LR-blue grism. we have made use of high resolution/high
Most of our redshifts signal-to-noise spectra using VLT UVES
Y
+Xα
are obtained via the and available through the ESO public
Lyman-α line either in
. 5(
archive. These only provide 1–2 QSO
%KTW
+Xβ 2H (( . (
2H (( " (( 2H (5 2H ((
+XKHLHS emission or absorption,
but many other inter sightlines per field and we have added to
%D (( %D ((( stellar absorption lines this with a QSO survey within the VLT
Y
2H ((
" (( 2H (5 2H ((
" (5
( (( " (((
2H (((
( (((
%D (
%D (((
can also be seen. LBG fields using the AAOmega instru-
. (
2H (( 9M ((
+Xα
2H (( ment on the Australian Astronomical Tel-
escope (AAT). The AAOmega spectro-
Y
2H (5
graph easily encompasses our fields with
2H (( . (
2H ((
. 5(
" (( 2H ((
" (5 %D (( ( (( its 2-degree field of view and in total
+Xα 2H ((
+Xβ has provided data on about 100 z ≈ 3
QSOs in the VLT LBG fields, adding con-
λ ML siderably to the available sightlines.
For the brighter QSOs identified via these
σ
Astronomical News was captured using the Wide Field Imager cam-
era on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the
La Silla Observatory, Chile and was awarded the
first prize in ESO’s Hidden Treasures competition.
Igor Chekalin from Russia uncovered the raw data
for this image in ESO’s archives, processed the
raw data with great skill and claimed first prize in
the contest (see Hainaut et al., p. 57).
Preben Grosbøl1
Giovanni Carraro1
Yuri Beletsky1
1
ESO
Figure 1. The participants by the swimming pool at the range 45–408 MHz show four tan-
the conference venue, the Hotel Rocas de Bahía in
More than 50 years ago, the spiral arms gential points associated with synchro-
Bahía Inglesa.
of the Milky Way were identified in the tron radiation in spiral arms, consistent
distribution of OB-stars, H ii-regions and with a four-armed pattern (A. Guzmán).
neutral hydrogen. An overview of the Observations
early results was presented in the pro- GMCs and the massive stars in the south-
ceedings of the IAU Symposium 38 held Recent observational data suggesting a ern Milky Way were identified by com
in 1969, in Basel, Switzerland. Our spiral structure in the Milky Way were bining the new Columbia survey and IRAS
knowledge of the evidence for spiral arms reviewed during the first two days of the data (P. Garcia-Fuentes). They follow
in the Milky Way and the kinematics in workshop. H i/CO maps of the Galaxy the spiral structure with some scatter and
the Solar Neighbourhood has increased have much improved both in sensitivity include several massive GMCs in the
significantly over the last few decades. and resolution (presentation by T. Dame; Norma arm. New spectrophotometric
Despite this, there is still no consensus on see the workshop web page1 for more distances have significantly improved the
the basic parameters of the spiral struc- details). This has led to a better outline of mapping of young stellar clusters in
ture in our Galaxy, such as the number of the spiral arms, especially on the far side the Galaxy (A. Moitinho & A. Daminelli).
major spiral arms and their location, its of the Galaxy, even though uncertain- There seems to be a lack of giant H ii
pattern speed(s) and amplitude, and its ties in the rotation curve and the distance regions on the far side of the Milky Way.
relation to the central bar. Major new and ambiguity still present issues. The iden The Perseus arm is well defined by CO
future observational facilities (such as tification of a symmetric counterpart to clouds, but is deficient in clusters. Using
ALMA, GAIA, LSST, VISTA, VST and the 3-kiloparsec arms was made possible near-infrared (NIR) surveys such as
APOGEE) will provide a wealth of data by the high resolution radio data. Accu- GLIMPSE, a global view of the most mas-
on the spatial and kinematic distributions rate parallaxes to numerous masers have sive, young stellar clusters was assem-
of the material in the Galaxy. Thus, it been determined using very long baseline bled (M. Messineo). Only clusters younger
seemed appropriate to perform a census interferometry (VLBI) techniques (talks than 30 Myr display spiral structure in
of our current data, confront them with by M. Reid, M. Sato and M. Honma). the Solar Neighbourhood (A. Lokin &
theory and models of spiral structure, Since masers are located in Giant Molec- M. Popova). Their ages and relative
and thereby map the path towards a con- ular Clouds (GMCs), this has led to much locations suggest a co-rotation radius
solidated view of the spiral pattern in the better estimates of the shape of the arms. just outside the Sun. A survey of early-
Milky Way. The workshop was held at the Measurements of parallaxes and the type stars in the anti-centre direction
small, beautiful seaside resort of Bahía proper motion of the central source in the using Strömgren photometry, which pro-
Inglesa in Central Chile over a period of Galaxy provide a new independent esti- vides accurate distances to individual
three and a half days. It was a pleasure to mate of the rotational velocity of the Sun. stars, indicates a density enhancement
see many students among the 55 par H i self-absorption observed in the sec- associated with the Perseus arm (M.
ticipants (see Figure 1), the number being ond Galactic quadrant (GQ) suggests a Monguío). The IPHAS survey questions
limited by the off-season availability of shock in the gas associated with the the existence of a sharp truncation of the
accommodation. Perseus arm. New all-sky radio maps in stellar disc (S. Sale).
The general spiral structure displayed ble angular speed of the pattern. There
by young objects and gas agrees was wide agreement that gas and
well with, and is best fitted by, a four- young objects show a four-armed struc-
armed pattern (D. Russeil). Kinematic ture with pitch angles in the range of
distance estimates are not always 12–14 degrees. The major issue is whether
reliable due to possible systematic per- the older stellar component has only
turbations by a density wave. NIR star a two-armed structure (Perseus and Scu-
counts using 2MASS and GLIMPSE can tum–Centaurus) or also four arms. In
give structural information when the the former case, the two minor gas arms
underlying stellar population has features (Sagittarius and Norma) would either
in its magnitude distribution like the be generated by secondary compressions
red clump (R. Benjamin & P. Polido). In or driven by the bar. It would be possi-
integrated longitude–magnitude dia- ble to distinguish these options by more
grams, structures in the bar and bulge accurate mapping of the arms (e.g., by
can be seen as tangential points of spiral VLBI parallaxes of masers) and detailed
arms and the truncation of the disc. analysis of the stellar density–velocity
The distribution of CS emission sources field in a region of a few kiloparsecs
in the Galactic Plane shows a squared around the Sun. Whereas new surveys
feature which resembles the orbital shape (e.g., VISTA and GAIA) will provide accu-
near the 4:1 resonance (J. Lépine). Spiral rate mapping of the stellar component,
and bar perturbations in external galax- radial velocities may still be an issue.
ies and possible implications for the
Galaxy were also discussed (M. Arnaboldi The current data are consistent with the
& M. Dumke). Figure 2. The conference poster, showing the major observed spiral pattern being associ-
features of the Milky Way spiral structure.
ated with a density wave. The life span of
such waves in the Galaxy is not easy
Theory to evaluate, as only very indirect means
dispersion and surface density (V. can be used, such as radial mixing
The third day of the workshop was Korchagin). The number of arms and the and changes of velocity dispersion with
dedicated to theoretical models and their pattern speed of the growing modes the mean age of the stellar populations.
comparison with observational data. depend on these functions and suggest Most estimates of the pattern speed of
Magnetohydrodynamic simulations in a a four-armed pattern for a standard model the spiral arms show values significantly
realistic Galactic potential show that of the Milky Way. lower than that of the bar, suggesting
the response to a two-armed spiral per- that the disc of our Galaxy has at least
turbation in the stars can yield additional, two components with different pattern
slightly tighter, arms of compressed gas Future surveys speeds. While star formation and shocks
between the stellar arms (M. A. Martos in the gas of the Perseus arm second
& G. Gómez). The Galactic bar may drive Finally, the last half-day was dedicated to GQ indicate co-rotation for the spiral to
the spiral pattern and induce additional future surveys. Several new surveys be outside this radius, the kinematics of
gaseous arms, which will look like are being prepared and will improve our local young clusters place it much closer
a four-armed pattern (O. Gerhard). New knowledge of the stellar disc by orders to the Solar radius.
analytic models of the Milky Way were of magnitude. VISTA surveys in the NIR
presented and used to analyse the will allow a much better view towards the
importance of ordered and chaotic stellar centre of the Galaxy while GAIA will Acknowledgements
orbits (B. Pichardo & S. Villegas). The assemble both spatial and kinematic data We express our deep gratitude to Paulina Jirón,
velocity ellipsoid can be used to test dif- for more than a billion stars (V. Ivanov, J. Hernan Fernandez, Mariía Eugenia Gómez and the
ferent potential models with spirals and Alonso-Garcia & J. de Bruijne). Surveys entire Local Organising Committee for a very suc-
bars (D. Chakrabarty & B. Famaey). like APOGEE using SDSS-II data are cessful meeting.
Although it is non-trivial to define a best improving the kinematic data significantly
fit to such distributions, they indicate (S. Majewski). Links
that the spiral has a significantly lower
1
pattern speed than that of the Galactic onference web page: http://www.eso.org/sci/
C
meetings/MW2010/index.html
bar. Radial mixing can be estimated from Discussions
pencil beam surveys and used to place
constraints on possible spiral modes in During the last two days of the workshop,
the Galaxy and their lifetime (I. Minchev). more than three hours were devoted
Unstable spiral modes can be present to intense discussions of observations
in stellar discs depending on the radial and models. The two main topics were
distribution functions of rotational velocity, the topology of the arms and the possi-
held at the Palace Hotel and Centro Congressi, Como, Italy, 19–22 October 2010
Sofia Randich1 natural need of the community to become presented X-shooter results on the phys-
Stefano Covino 2 well acquainted with a new and sophis ics of galaxies and the intergalactic
Stefano Cristiani 3 ticated instrument and its analysis tools, medium (IGM) in the low- and high-z Uni-
the first results are, already, truly exciting, verse. The full programme of the meet-
spanning a wide range of different sci ing and selected presentations are avail
1
INAF–Osservatorio Astrofisico di entific fields, covering virtually all classes able on the conference web page1.
Arcetri, Italy of astrophysical objects, and demon
2
INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di strating the high flexibility and throughput We present here a selection of the topics
Brera, Italy of X-shooter. The scientific programme presented. Proceedings will be published
3
INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di was put together thanks to the dedicated in a dedicated volume of Astronomische
Trieste, Italy work of the Scientific Organising Com Nachrichten and most of the quoted con-
mittee (S. Covino, Co-Chair; S. D’Odorico; tributions will soon be available there.
J. Fynbo; P. Groot; F. Hammer; J. Hjorth;
The workshop was held with the aim of L. Kaper; S. Randich, Co-Chair; P.
bringing together X-shooter users to Rasmussen; and F. Zerbi). Stellar spectroscopy
discuss scientific results, performance
and technical aspects, after the first The first session of the workshop was X-shooter offers a unique instrument
year of successful operations of the in dedicated to talks related to the in combination for studies of star formation,
strument. The workshop was also strument itself, including a description from the lowest mass brown dwarfs
organised to commemorate Roberto of its history, characteristics, perfor- (BDs), to the most massive young stellar
Pallavicini, whose scientific and human mance and a science overview, with par- objects (YSOs).
contribution to the development of ticular focus on the Guaranteed Time
X-shooter was invaluable and a source Observer (GTO) programme (presenta- A set of spectra of very low-mass mem-
of continuous inspiration for all of us. tions by S. D’Odorico; F. Zerbi et al.; C. bers of nearby star-forming regions
A touching presentation focusing on the Martayan et al.; P. Bristow et al.; M. (SFRs), shown in Figure 1, represents a
scientific personality of Roberto was Andersen; P. Groot). A programme aimed spectacular example of the capabili-
given by Luca Pasquini on the second at setting up an X-shooter spectral ties of X-shooter in this field. The large
day of the workshop. library was also presented (S. Trager). and simultaneous spectral coverage,
The second session was devoted to star from the U- to the K-band, allows the
formation, while during the third session characteristics of these objects, such as
About 50 people attended the workshop, the potential of X-shooter for studies their spectral types, lithium abundances,
including several young researchers. A of stars and stellar populations was dis- the accretion and wind properties and
variety of preliminary and more advanced cussed. The fourth and fifth sessions the physical conditions of the gas accret-
results from the first year of X-shooter focused on supernovae and gamma-ray ing from the circumstellar disc onto the
activities was reported. In spite of the bursts (GRB); speakers in the last session star (J. Alcalà et al.; E. Rigliaco et al.), to
Figure 1. Example of
Flux (erg/s/cm 2/nm)
350 400 450 500 550 392 394 396 398 400
Wavelength (nm) Wavelength (nm)
be studied with unprecedented reliability. Figure 2. The region of the Lyα emis-
sion in the X-shooter spectrum of the
A large survey of low-mass stars in dif 2H ((
Y
QSO SDSS J0818+1722 (zem = 6.00).
ferent SFRs is being carried out as part 2H (( The detected weak C iv doublets are
of the Italian GTO and the first results Y
marked in blue and the two prominent
were presented at the workshop. A sur- Si ii 1260 Å absorption features of the
systems at z = 5.79 and z = 5.876 in
vey of older BDs outside star-forming
magenta (for details see V. D’Odorico
regions is also being carried out (B. et al., 2011).
Goldmann), which will, for the first time,
allow a complete characterisation of
%KTW
,@Q
l
X-shooter pipeline is, of course, still under
,@Q
intense development; nevertheless, it
is already mature enough to allow routine
,@Q
reduction and analysis of X-shooter data
l
,@Q (P. Goldoni). During the conference a very
profitable open session led by A. Modigli-
,@Q
ani, on behalf of the software development
l team, was devoted to feedback from the
,@Q users in order to better drive the future
development of the reduction package.
OQ
l
From extended discussions, a number
of proposals for further improving the
OQ
impressive capabilities of X-shooter
l emerged: the introduction of a cold filter
in the infrared to reduce the background;
upgrade of the acquisition CCD in order
3DKKTQHBA@MCR to provide BVRz photometry as a scien-
l tific and calibration added value, the pos-
.ARDQUDCV@UDKDMFSGÄ sibility of infrared-only nodding; the sug-
gestion to move X-shooter to another
The large X-shooter wavelength cover- M. Strintzinger reviewed the state of the VLT Unit Telescope with lower time over-
age allows quick and unprecedentedly art of observations of type I SNe, putting subscription. The action of studying an
reliable derivations of redshifts for GRBs X-shooter in context, while A. Pastorello IR sensitive acquisition camera, impor-
crossing the so-called redshift desert et al. presented preliminary results about tant for high redshift work and IR flux cali-
(1.4 < z < 3). Moreover, the availability of the impressive efficiency of X-shooter in bration, was also taken.
large sets of emission and absorption delivering information about the interac-
lines opens up the possibility of substan- tion of SNe with their circumstellar media. Summing up, within the limits of just
tially improving the knowledge of the one year of observations with a young
chemical features of the environment of instrument, the wealth of data is impres-
these remote objects (V. D’Elia; P. Future prospects sive and researchers have learnt how
Jakobsson et al.; S. Piranomonte et al.; to deal with information which, in the
C. Thöne et al.; S. Vergani et al.) and, X-shooter is definitely not an instrument recent past, was (occasionally) available
when possible, to perform time-resolved designed for high-resolution studies. only through time-consuming, multi-
analyses (A. de Ugarte Postigo et al.). Nevertheless, with good signal-to-noise, instrument observational campaigns.
Integral field unit observations with it is possible to derive reliable informa- X-shooter now defines the state of the art
X-shooter (H. Flores et al.) allowed spa- tion about line profiles as carried out by for this category of spectrographs. Not
tially resolved chemical and dynamical several studies, where, for instance, by chance it has been among the most
information to be derived, while the the profile of Lyman-a was successfully requested instruments at ESO since
extinction properties of high-redshift gal- modelled. In this case the large wave- the very first observational period that it
axies are explored with emission line length range of X-shooter makes it easier was offered to the community.
diagnostics provided by the large wave- to find lines to study without being lim-
length range (K. Wieserma). ited to a specific spectral range, and the
high efficiency of the spectrograph allows References
The supernovae and GRB communities one to deal with fainter objects not reach- Proceedings will be published in Astronomische
had the opportunity to join efforts, when, able at intermediate resolution in previous Nachrichten in 2011.
in March 2010, one of the still rare studies.
SNIb/c objects associated to a GRB
Links
(SN2010bh/GRB100316D) occurred. It is clear that, in order to cope with the
Spectra were taken immediately and the impressive data flow provided by the 1
onference web page:
C
evolution of this event was followed three X-shooter arms, it is mandatory to http://www.brera.inaf.it/xshooter2010/
for months (F. Bufano et al., see Figure 3). employ reliable software tools. The
Leonardo Testi 1
Goeran Pilbratt 2
Paola Andreani 1
1
ESO
2
ESA Research and Scientific Support
Department, ESTEC, Noordwijk, the
Netherlands
Keck i-band images. the Galactic Plane and in the nearby star-
0 (H-ATLAS team; Negrello forming regions were discussed, as well
–1 et al., 2010). as the possible role of magnetic fields
–2
N N and instabilities in the evolution of the fila-
ments. This topic was clearly identified
–3
E E as an area requiring high angular resolu-
–4 tion molecular line and polarisation
4
ID81 ID130
follow-up with ALMA. P. Caselli and C.
3 Ceccarelli reviewed the Herschel results
2 and the ALMA prospects for the study
1
of the chemistry of the molecular gas in
Arcseconds
4MRS@AKD
colour composite on
the left, filamentary
structure and cores on
the right (adapted from
André et al., 2010).
CDF
2S@AKD
formation of complex, possibly pre-biotic Solar System objects and submillimetre wavelengths. The ini-
molecules, a field that is just starting tial results of this programme were also
to be explored with Herschel. Of particu- Most (sub-)millimetre astronomers are reported at the meeting in a poster by
lar relevance is the study of the gas-to- very familiar with Solar System bodies, C. Goddi and collaborators (see Figure 6).
dust mass ratio and its possible variation which are normally observed as primary A common, well-understood and accu-
across the disc, as well as the chemistry calibrators at these wavelengths. While rately modelled set of calibrators for
of water (O. Panić, I. Kamp and M. much is known about these objects, and, Herschel and ALMA are needed to meet
Hogerheide). The scientific opportunities in spite of the fact that many have been the stringent ALMA calibration goals
offered by ALMA when fully equipped studied in detail in situ by astronomical and will provide a consistent calibration
with Band 5 receivers for the study of spacecraft, much is still to be learned. between the two observatories, a pre-
water and its isotopes in discs and star- Two main areas were discussed at the requisite for combining data. The primary
forming regions were emphasised. meeting: the study of planetary atmos- HIFI and SPIRE calibrators, Neptune
pheres and comets in molecular lines; and Uranus, will be too large for ALMA at
and the study of the continuum emission high frequencies and for extended array
Evolved stars from minor rocky bodies. R. Moreno, configurations, thus establishing a good
P. Hartog and M. Rengel highlighted the network of common secondary calibra-
The main Herschel results obtained so importance of spatially resolved studies tors is very important.
far on evolved stars were reviewed by Ch. of the chemistry in the atmospheres.
Waelkens and J. Cernicharo. Spectra Water was a recurrent theme in this sci-
of these objects from the Herschel heter- entific area and the synergy between The bright future of far-infrared and sub-
odyne instrument HIFI, Photodetector Herschel and ALMA was highlighted by millimetre astrophysics
Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) all the speakers.
and the Spectral and Photometric Imag- The highlights of the meeting were the
ing REceiver (SPIRE) are revealing a T. Müller and P. Hartogh showed the numerous and exciting scientific results
new wealth of information on the chemis- latest results of the observations of minor that Herschel is providing. There is a
try in the envelopes and the yields to bodies of the Solar System with Herschel. strong and very active community work-
the interstellar medium (see Figure 5). The Several Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) ing on trying to extract the best possible
full ALMA array will allow the molecular have been detected at far-infrared and science from the unique opportunity
atmospheres of these stars to be studied submillimetre wavelengths allowing the that Herschel represents. Nevertheless,
at the angular resolution required to development of detailed models of their it was also obvious that this community
spatially resolve the formation of complex structure and composition, which require has ALMA on their radar and several
molecules as a function of the height ALMA follow-up. A small set of Main groups had already been preparing pre-
above the radio photosphere. Belt asteroids are being monitored by liminary ideas and follow-up observa-
Herschel and APEX to evaluate them as tions for ALMA Early Science and
secondary flux calibrators at far-infrared beyond. While the time overlap when
CS H13CN
0
0.2 H 2O SiS SiO NH 3 SiS SiS SiO CCH SiS HCN ν2 SiS scientific results that will come from the
0.1
combination of the unique capabilities of
TA
TA
TA
0.20 0.7
Hygiea 100 0.4
Victoria
Model (1) 0.3
0.6
50
0
map mode 0.1
0.5 – 50
0
Flux (Jy)
100
0.1
0.10 –100
–100 – 50 0 50 100
– 0.1
0.4 ∆ Az (arcsec)
50
0.05
∆ EI (arcsec)
0.3
0.05 0
– 50
– 0.05
–100
–100 – 50 0 50 100
0.2
∆ Az (arcsec)
0.00
16 Aug 18 Aug 20 Aug 22 Aug 14 Apr 04 May 24 May 13 Jun
Comprehensive Characterisation of
Astronomical Sites
held at Kislovodsk, Russia, monitors). Monitors of the optical turbu- can provide accurate forecasts of observ-
4–9 October 2010 lence (measured by the structure con- ing conditions at ground-based ob
stant of the atmospheric refractive index servatories, e.g., as a support to queue
The meeting1 was organised by the Cn2) have evolved over the last decade: scheduling in service observing mode.
ternberg Astronomical Institute (SAI) of
S the differential image motion monitor These models need, however, to be
Moscow University and the IAU Working (DIMM) technique has become a stand- checked, calibrated or tuned against real
Group Site Testing Instruments. ard worldwide and a number of com site data before becoming operational.
plementary instruments (Multi Aperture One of the main drivers for this workshop
This workshop was the opportunity for Scintillation Sensor [MASS], SLOpe Detec- (the participants are seen in Figure 2)
all teams currently involved in astro tion And Ranging [SLODAR], SCIntillation was to present and discuss the data col-
nomical site testing to gather and share Detection And Ranging [SCIDAR], SLope lected by the observatories in Chile.
ideas and experience. The meeting place and scIntillation Detection And Ranging
(see Figure 1), chosen by the Sternberg [SLIDAR], LUnar SCIntillometer [LuSCI]) In the domain of site surveys, the US
group, is close to Mt. Shatdzhatmaz, are now available to analyse in detail the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project has
chosen after a three-year site survey to turbulence profiles along various sec- set the standard with the release of its
host a 2.5-metre telescope currently tions of the line of sight. More effort is site testing database to the public shortly
being built in Europe. The National Astro- needed however for robotic sky monitor- after the site decision was taken. Obvi-
nomical Observatories of China and ing of cloudiness: currently mostly per- ously other institutions will follow. How-
the Chinese Center for Antarctic Astron- formed using 1D sensors (visual light ever data can be shared and sites can be
omy are investigating the potential of Ant- meters or infrared sky temperature sen- compared worldwide only when much
arctica (Dome A) and West China (Tibet) sors), while 2D all-sky cameras still rely care has been taken to maintain a high
for ground-based national projects. The on visual analysis. quality standard all through the data col-
Indian Institute of Astrophysics is investi- lection process. A prerequisite is obvi-
gating high altitude sites (> 4 000 metres) ously that different instruments measur-
in Ladakh for a national project (NLOT). Atmospheric Data from Astronomical Site ing the same parameters should agree.
The site survey for the future Iranian Testing in Chile Several cross-comparison issues were
National Observatory’s 3.4-metre tele- discussed in detail, including the meas-
scope is coming close to completion with held at Valparaiso, Chile, urement of the turbulence in the sur-
the detailed study of the surface layer 1–3 December 2010 face layer, of the wavefront coherence
turbulence at the two shortlisted summits time and of the precipitable water vapour.
(Qom and Kashan areas) to determine The workshop was hosted by Universidad
the optimal height above ground of the de Valparaíso and jointly sponsored by the Among the positive results of the meet-
telescope. TMT Observatory Corporation and ESO 2. ings in Russia and Chile, was the deci-
sion to re-assert interest and support in
Discussions on the instrumentation illus- The Astro-meteorology Group of the the IAU Site Testing Instruments Working
trated the impressive evolution that Physics Department of the University of Group activity initiated by A. Tokovinin
has occurred over the past decade. Pre- Valparaiso has accumulated much (CTIO)3, in particular adding a special
cipitable water vapour (PWV) monitor- technical know-how in the use of global section for listing the available database
ing is now a mature technique with a and meso-scale meteorological models. worldwide, which A. Otarola (TMT) has
wide suite of instruments (radiosondes, As was demonstrated at a previous kindly agreed to organise4.
radio, infrared and GPS ground-based workshop (Masciadri, 2008) such tools
1
Workshop web page: http://site2010.sai.msu.ru/
2
Workshop web page:
http://www.dfa.uv.cl/sitetestingdata/
3
IAU Site Testing Instruments Working Group:
http://www.ctio.noao.edu/science/iauSite/
4
Sharing of site testing data:
http://project.tmt.org/~aotarola/ST
Olivier Hainaut1 Over the past two and a half years ESO The ESO Science Archive stores all the
Oana Sandu1 has boosted its production of outreach data acquired on Paranal, and most of
Lars Lindberg Christensen1 images, both in terms of quantity and the data obtained on La Silla since the
quality, so as to become one of the best late 1990s. This archive constitutes a
sources of astronomical images. In goldmine commonly used for science
1
ESO achieving this goal, the whole work flow projects (e.g., Haines et al., 2006), and for
from the initial production process, technical studies (e.g., Patat et al., 2011).
through to publication and promotion has But besides their scientific value, the
ESO’s Hidden Treasures astropho been optimised and strengthened. The imaging datasets in the archive also have
tography competition gave amateur final outputs have been made easier to great outreach potential.
astronomers the opportunity to search re-use in other products or channels by
ESO’s Science Archive for a well- our partners. ESO has a small team of professional
hidden cosmic gem. The competition image processors, but for ESO’s Hidden
attracted nearly one hundred entries While the pictures of the Universe that Treasures competition, the experts de
and the winners were announced in can be seen in ESO’s releases are cided to give astronomy and photography
January 2011. Astronomy enthusiast impressive, many hours of skilful work are enthusiasts the opportunity to show the
Igor Chekalin from Russia won the first required to first find datasets that can world what they could do with the data
prize — a trip to the Very Large Tele- become useful “public” representations contained in the archive. A simplified
scope at Paranal — in this difficult but of the Universe, and then to process interface to the ESO Science Archive was
rewarding challenge. these into colour images. Along the way prepared by the Archive Group for this
significant work goes into the astro purpose and the goal of the competition
Pictures can be powerful; and astro nomical processing — to assemble the seemed at first glance simple: to produce
nomical images even more so: these raw greyscale data captured by the a good outreach image with a dataset
views of distant cosmic worlds can telescopes, to correct for the instrument from the ESO Science Archive that had
inspire and help to connect us with the signature, and to process the graphics — not yet been published.
Universe. The images could almost and in compressing the image’s dynamic
be works of art when particularly intrigu- range to fit within the limited gamut of The enthusiasts who responded to the
ing shapes and phenomena are cap- today’s monitors and printers, enhancing call submitted nearly 100 entries in total —
tured and presented in an appropriate them so as to bring out the details con- far exceeding initial expectations, given
way. Astronomical pictures are also an tained in the astronomical data1. the difficult nature of the challenge. Navi-
efficient way to pique people’s interest in gating the Science Archive has a steep
astronomy and science. learning curve for a new user due to the
inherent complexity of the data. In addi- – Third prize, VLT laser cube model and
I. Chekalin
tion, over the past few years we have other ESO outreach products: Andy
systematically scoured the archives for Strappazzon (Belgium).
valuable datasets that would allow us – Fourth to tenth prizes, Eyes on the
to release inspiring images of the Uni- Skies book and DVD, and other ESO
verse and thereby already found most of outreach products: Joseph (Joe)
the available appropriate datasets. This DePasquale (USA); Manuel (Manu)
competition was not a challenge for the Mejias (Argentina); Alberto Milani (Italy);
faint-hearted, requiring both an advanced Joshua (Josh) Barrington (USA); Oleg
knowledge of data processing and an Maliy (Ukraine); Adam Kiil (United King-
artistic eye. Digging through many tera- dom); Javier Fuentes (Chile).
bytes of astronomical data, the entrants
had to identify a series of frames that The overall winner, Igor Chekalin (seen in
would reveal the hidden beauty of a ce Figure 1) from Russia, who won the trip
lestial object. to Paranal says, “It was a great expe
rience and pleasure to work with such
The chance of a great reward for the tal- amazing data. As an amateur astro
ented winner was enough to spur on photographer, this was the most difficult
the competitors: the first prize being a trip processing and post-processing job I
to the Very Large Telescope, with guided have ever done. My participation in the
tours and the opportunity to participate Figure 1. Astronomy enthusiast Igor Chekalin from Hidden Treasures competition gave
Russia, who participated in ESO’s Hidden Treasures
in a night’s observations. Runners-up me a range of challenges, from installing
2010 astrophotography competition and won the
prizes included an iPod, books and DVDs. first prize: a trip to the VLT. new software to studying techniques
Furthermore, the highest ranked images and even operating systems that I did not
were to be released for the world to see know before.”
on www.eso.org as Photo Releases or same people, the jury decided to make
Pictures of the Week, co-crediting the awards to the ten most talented par Some of the images submitted by the
winners and promoted on ESO’s Face- ticipants, so as to give more people the ten winners are shown. The image of the
book page, Twitter feed, uploaded on opportunity to win a prize and to reward reflection nebula Messier 78 selected by
Wikipedia and on ESO’s Flickr account2. their hard work and talent. Igor Chekalin is shown in the Astronomi-
cal News section, page (p. 46); he also
The jury, composed of outreach and The prize winners were: produced the image of the pair of galax-
image processing experts and astrono- –F
irst prize, a trip to Paranal and other ies NGC 3169 and NGC 3166 shown
mers, evaluated the entries based on the ESO outreach products: Igor Chekalin in Figure 2. Figure 3 shows a colour image
quality of the data processing, the origi- (Russia). of the low-mass star-forming region
nality of the image and the overall aes- –S
econd prize, an iPod Touch and other NGC 6729 by Sergey Stepanenko. The
thetic feel. As several of the highest ESO outreach products: Sergey winning images can be viewed from
ranked images were submitted by the Stepanenko (Ukraine). the web page announcing the winners3.
ESO/S. Stepanenko
Reflecting on the usefulness of the Hid- of the datasets had already been identi- Links
den Treasures competition, we can fied by our team prior to the competition, 1
his work is carried out using the purpose-built
T
say that it undoubtedly has served to fur- and were at some stage of processing, software developed in-house called the ESO/ESA/
ther increase the visibility of ESO and showing that the ESO Science Archive NASA FITS Liberator, available at: http://www.
its data. Almost thirty of the submitted has few hidden gems remaining. spacetelescope.org/projects/fits_liberator/.
2
To follow ESO’s social media accounts access:
images have some potential to be re
http://www.facebook.com/ESOAstronomy or
leased publicly, and half a dozen were so http://twitter.com/ESO_Observatory
impressive that they will become ESO References 3
T he web page of the competition is at: http://www.
Photo Releases over the next few months. Haines, C. P. et al. 2006, MNRAS, 371, 55
eso.org/public/outreach/hiddentreasures
It is also interesting that four of the best Patat, F. et al. 2010, A&A, in press, arXiv:1011.6156
Fellows at ESO
on me. Unfortunately, growing up in After finishing my degree in 1999 at the Garching. One of the great things about
the light-polluted city of Amsterdam, Leiden Observatory, I went to the Univer- being at ESO is the possibility of attend-
often the Moon was the only object visi- sity of Cambridge for a one-year Master’s ing many of the large number of inter
ble in the sky at night. I kept my interest in astronomy working at a more numeri- esting workshops and talks that are
in astronomy alive by reading lots of cal project. In 2000 I returned to Leiden to organised in the area each year. Besides
books, with topics ranging from a start my PhD project. The aim was to continuing to study very high redshift
detailed description of the Solar System study the environment of powerful radio objects, working at ESO also gives me
to the theory of the Big Bang. When I galaxies at redshifts between two and five the opportunity to be involved in the
went to university, I had no doubt what I by searching for overdensities of Lyman-a E-ELT project. I find it very exciting to be
wanted to study, and in 1995 I started emission-line galaxies. My project got able to contribute to a project with such
my undergraduate studies in astronomy off to a flying start, as three months into importance for the future of European
at the University of Leiden. During the my PhD our group received confirmation astronomy. As an undergraduate student
first few years of study I somehow was that our VLT large programme had been on my first observing trip I was thoroughly
very certain I would finish my degree and accepted. This meant that I had the impressed by the size of the mirror of the
start a career outside the academic opportunity to visit Paranal several times NTT, so I can hardly imagine how it will
world. This assumption turned out to be to obtain all the data I needed for my the- be to stand next to a 42-metre telescope
completely wrong ... sis. The observations went really well, in (hopefully) a few years from now!
giving me more than enough results to
My ideas for the future radically changed write several papers and to fill my thesis.
when I was doing my Master’s project After defending my PhD thesis in 2005,
at the Leiden Observatory. The research I went back to Cambridge, this time to
consisted of reducing multicolour imag- work as a research associate at the Insti-
ing data. Shortly after choosing my pro- tute of Astronomy. My work there focused
ject, my supervisor asked me whether on studying galaxies and quasars at the
I wanted to go for an observing run with highest redshifts (z > 6), using, amongst
the NTT on La Silla. Although scientifically others, data from large public surveys like
the observing run was not a huge success SDSS and UKIDSS.
(lots of clouds!), I thoroughly enjoyed the
experience. Exploring various ways to As nearly all my research made use of
get the best results and to make new dis- large amounts of ESO data, applying
coveries fascinated me and by the time for an ESO Fellowship was the obvious
I finished my Master’s thesis, I was deter- next step for me. Currently, I am in my
mined to pursue a career in astronomy. third year as an ESO Fellow working in Bram Venemans
Personnel Movements
Europe Europe
Drouart, Guillaume (F) Student Dremel, Günther (D) Administrative Clerk
Lakicevic, Masa (SRB) Student Feng, Lu (VR) Student
Riesel, Jürgen (D) Administrative Clerk Jalali, Behrang (IR) Student
Sartoris, Barbara (I) Student Müller, André (D) Student
Schmid, Erich (D) Software Engineer Nilsson, Kim (S) Astronomer
Westmoquette, Mark (GB) Fellow Völk, Elisabeth (D) Secretary/Assistant
Chile Chile
Barria, Daniela (RCH) Student Andreoni, Gaetano (I) IT Quality Assurance Manager
Gourgeot, Florian (F) Student Emmerich, Alejandra (RCH) Secretary/Assistant
Jager, Henderikus (NL) System Engineer Gallegos, Leonardo (RCH) Telescope Instruments Operator
Jones, David (GB) Fellow Gutierrez, Flavio (RCH) System Administrator
Lieder, Stefan (D) Student Lassalle, Jacques (F) Safety Engineer
Pozzobon, Matteo (I) Senior Mechanical Engineer Lira, Luis Felipe (RCH) Legal Advisor
Rioseco, Diego (RCH) Legal Advisor Planesas, Pere (E) Test Scientist
ESO
European Organisation
for Astronomical
Research in the
Southern Hemisphere
Students in the programme work on their doctoral project under All documents should be submitted in English (but no translation is
the formal supervision of their home university. They come to either required for the certificates and diplomas).
Garching or Santiago for a stay of normally between one and two
years to conduct part of their studies under the co-supervision of an Review of the received material, including the recommendation
ESO staff astronomer. Candidates and their home institute supervi- letters, will start on 15 June 2011. Applications arriving after this
sors should agree on a research project together with the ESO local deadline will be considered until all the positions are filled.
supervisor. A list of potential ESO supervisors and their research Incomplete applications will not be considered. All reference let-
interests can be found at http://www.eso.org/sci/activities/personnel. ters must be sent electronically to vacancy@eso.org.
html. A list of current PhD projects offered by ESO staff is available at
http://www.eso.org/sci/activities/thesis-topics/. It is highly recom- Candidates will be notified of the results of the selection process in
mended that the applicants start their PhD studies at their home insti- July 2011. Studentships typically begin between August and
tute before continuing their PhD work and developing their research December of the year in which they are awarded. In well-justified
projects at ESO. cases, starting dates in the year following the application can be
negotiated.
ESO Chile students will have an opportunity to visit the observato-
ries and to get involved in small projects aimed at giving insights into For further information please contact Christina Stoffer (cstoffer@
the observatory operations. eso.org).
In Garching students may attend, if desired, and benefit from the Although recruitment preference will be given to nationals of ESO
series of lectures given to the PhD students enrolled in the IMPRS Member States (Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic,
(International Max-Planck Research School on Astrophysics) PhD Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands,
programme. Students who are already enrolled in a PhD programme Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom) no
in the Munich area (e.g., the IMPRS or at a Munich University) and nationality is in principle excluded.
wish to apply for an ESO studentship in Garching, should provide
compelling justification for their application. The post is open equally to suitably qualified male and female appli-
cants.
The Outline of the Terms of Service for Students (http://www.eso.
org/public/employment/student.html) provides some more details
on employment conditions and benefits.
61 The Messenger 143 – March 2011 The Messenger 143 – March 2011 61
Astronomical News
Formation and Early Evolution of Very Low Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs
The wide-area surveys in nearby molecu- the sites where the lowest mass isolated
lar clouds that are currently being con- objects form.
ducted with Herschel in the far-infrared
and APEX in the submillimetre will soon Together, these facilities will provide a
be complemented and extended with multiwavelength view of the origin of
observations by SCUBA2 at the James the full stellar and sub-stellar mass func-
Clerk Maxwell Telescope. Together they tion. In parallel, detailed studies of indi-
will add to the enormous amount of data vidual objects and small samples are
that will be collected by ground-based already underway with new and existing
wide-area surveys with telescopes like VLT/I instruments and with current mil
VISTA and the VST, and those already limetre interferometers, and will shortly
available, most notably those carried out begin with ALMA. At the same time,
with the Spitzer Space Telescope. These increasingly realistic computations of the
surveys will offer complete samples of collapse and fragmentation processes,
objects in nearby star-forming regions, the early evolution of the resulting ob-
from cores to protostars and young stars, jects, their inner structure, and the
with unprecedented sensitivity. The sur- dynamics and chemistry of their atmos-
veys will probe the physical conditions at pheres and surrounding medium are
producing a sound framework for the – The initial mass functions of stars and review. The sessions will be further com-
interpretation of observations. BDs and their possible relation with the plemented by contributed talks and
molecular cloud clump mass function; open discussions. Ample space will be
This workshop will review the current – The processes that regulate star forma- provided for posters. Proposals for
progress in our understanding of low- tion in giant molecular clouds from both contributed talks and posters are
mass star and brown dwarf (BD) forma- theoretical and observational aspects; invited. Owing to the capacity of the
tion in nearby molecular clouds, and – Surveys for young, very low mass stars local facilities, the number of participants
will bring together observers and theore- and BDs. will be limited to around 120. Financial
ticians to promote stimulating discussion. support will be available for a small num-
The workshop is jointly organised by ber of participants, mainly for students
The main science topics include: ESO, the Max-Planck Institute for and young researchers.
– Properties of nearby molecular clouds E xtraterrestrial Physics, the Excellence
and cores forming stars and BDs; Cluster Origin and Structure of the The registration deadline is 30 June 2011.
– Theory and observations of collapse of Universe and the University Observatory
protostars and protobinaries; Munich. The meeting will take place Further details are available at
– Early evolutionary stages of very low at ESO Garching. There will be five main http://www.eso.org/sci/meetings/2011/
mass stars and BDs: disc-mediated sessions, each introduced by an invited vlms2011.html.
accretion and ejection; observational review and a theoretical
Over the next decade, by the time of first Survey Telescope for Astronomy Josh Frieman (Fermilab), Gerry Gilmore
light of the Extremely Large Telescopes [VISTA], the Panoramic Survey Tele- (University of Cambridge), Anne-Marie
(ELTs), an incredible wealth of data will scope & Rapid Response System Lagrange (Grenoble Observatory),
have become available through many [Pan-STARRS], the Wide-Field Infrared Pat McCarthy (GMT Observatory), Timo
new survey facilities. Astronomy will enter Survey Telescope [WFIRST], SCUBA-2, Prusti (ESA), Hans-Walter Rix (MPIA),
an era of surveys. At the same time, the WISE, Euclid, Plato, the Square Kil Elaine Sadler (University of Sydney),
ELTs will open up a new parameter space ometer Array [SKA] and its pathfinders, David Silva (NOAO/GSMT), Luc Simard
of unprecedented sensitivity and spatial etc.) profit from follow-up by the ELTs? (CNRC/TMT) and Will Sutherland (Uni
resolution. This workshop is aimed at ex – To what extent do the three ELT pro- versity of London). The Local Organising
ploring the synergies between these jects (Giant Magellan Telescope [GMT], Committee is composed of Annalisa
two approaches. It will review ongoing Thirty Meter Telescope [TMT] and Calamida, Vanessa Ferraro-Wood,
and forthcoming survey projects and European Extremely Large Telescope Giuliana Giobbi and Aprajita Verma.
explore the developments that these will [E-ELT]) require surveys to prepare sci-
bring to a wide range of science areas, entific breakthroughs? The workshop will be held at the Hotel
including exoplanets, star formation, stel- Continental Terme, on the Island of
lar populations, galaxy formation/evolu- The goal is to bring together the survey Ischia near Naples. Further details can
tion and cosmology. and ELT communities and to define first be found at http://www.eso.org/sci/meet-
strategies to maximise the success of ings/2011/feedgiant.html.
The workshop will address two broad both aspects.
questions: Registration will open at the end of
– Along with surveys conducted by cur- The workshop is organised jointly by March 2011.
rent and forthcoming observatories, ESO (Markus Kissler-Patig and Jochen
how will the upcoming dedicated sur- Liske), OPTICON and the INAF–Observa-
vey facilities (such as, to name just a tory of Rome (Annalisa Calamida and
few, Kepler, Gaia, the Large Synoptic Isobel Hook) and the University of Oxford
Survey Telescope [LSST], the Dark (Aprajita Verma). The other members of
Energy Survey [DES], the VLT Survey the Scientific Organising Committee are:
Telescope [VST] and the VLT Infrared Daniel Eisenstein (University of Arizona),
Subject Index Upgrading VIMOS; Hammersley, P.; Christensen, L.; Astronomical Science
Dekker, H.; Izzo, C.; Selman, F.; Bristow, P.;
Bourget, P.; Castillo, R.; Downing, M.; Haddad, N.; A Slitless Spectroscopic Survey for Ha-emitting
The Organisation Hilker, M.; Lizon, J.-L.; Lucuix, C.; Mainieri, V.; Stars in the Magellanic Clouds; Martayan, C.;
Mieske, S.; Reinero, C.; Rejkuba, M.; Rojas, C.; Baade, D.; Fabregat, J.; 139, 29
Enabling Virtual Access to Latin-American Southern Smette, A.; Urrutia del Rio, J.; Valenzuela, J.; Wolff, CRIRES–POP — A Library of High Resolution Spec-
Observatories; Filippi, G.; 142, 2 B.; 142, 8 tra in the Near-infrared; Lebzelter, T.; Seifahrt, A.;
Progress on the VLT Adaptive Optics Facility; Ramsay, S.; Almeida, P.; Bagnulo, S.; Dall, T.;
Arsenault, R.; Madec, P.-Y.; Paufique, J.; Ströbele, Hartman, H.; Hussain, G.; Käufl, H.U.; Nieva,
Telescopes and Instrumentation S.; Pirard, J.-F.; Vernet, É.; Hackenberg, W.; Hubin, M.-F.; Przybilla, N.; Seemann, U.; Smette, A.;
N.; Jochum, L.; Kuntschner, H.; Glindemann, A.; Uttenthaler, S.; Wahlgren, G.; Wolff, B.; 139, 33
The Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astron- Amico, P.; Lelouarn, M.; Kolb, J.; Tordo, S.; SINFONI on the Nucleus of Centaurus A; Neumayer,
omy (VISTA): Looking Back at Commissioning; Donaldson, R.; Sönke, C.; Bonaccini Calia, D.; N.; Cappellari, M.; van der Werf, P.; Reunanen, J.;
Emerson, J.; Sutherland, W.; 139, 2 Conzelmann, R.; Delabre, B.; Kiekebusch, M.; Rix, H.-W.; de Zeeuw, T.; Davies, R.; 139, 36
VISTA Science Verification — The Galactic and Extra- Duhoux, P.; Guidolin, I.; Quattri, M.; Guzman, R.; The Properties of Star-forming Regions within a
galactic Mini-surveys; Arnaboldi, M.; Petr-Gotzens, Buzzoni, B.; Comin, M.; Dupuy, C.; Quentin, J.; Galaxy at Redshift 2; Swinbank, M.; Edge, A.;
M.; Rejkuba, M.; Neeser, M.; Szeifert, T.; Ivanov, Lizon, J.-L.; Silber, A.; Jolly, P.; Manescau, A.; Richard, J.; Smail, I.; De Breuck, C.; Lundgren, A.;
V. D.; Hummel, W.; Hilker, M.; Neumayer, N.; Møller, Hammersley, P.; Reyes, J.; Jost, A.; Duchateau, M.; Siringo, G.; Weiss, A.; Harris, A.; Baker, A.;
P.; Nilsson, K.; Venemans, B.; Hatziminaoglou, E.; Heinz, V.; Bechet, C.; Stuik, R.; 142, 12 Longmore, S.; Ivison, R.; 139, 42
Hussain, G.; Stanke, T.; Teixeira, P.; Ramsay, S.; ALMA Status and Progress towards Early Science; The CRIRES Search for Planets at the Bottom of the
Retzlaff, J.; Slijkhuis, R.; Comerón, F.; Melnick, J.; Testi, L.; Hills, R.; Laing, R.; Stanghellini, S.; Wild, Main Sequence; Bean, J.; Seifahrt, A.; Hartman,
Romaniello, M.; Emerson, J.; Sutherland, W.; Irwin, W.; 142, 17 H.; Nilsson, H.; Wiedemann, G.; Reiners, A.;
M.; Lewis, J.; Hodgkin, S.; Gonzales-Solares, E.; D reizler, S.; Henry, T.; 140, 41
139, 6 Spectropolarimetry of Wolf–Rayet Stars in the
Laser Development for Sodium Laser Guide Stars at Synopses of E-ELT Phase A and Instrument Concept Magellanic Clouds: Constraining the Progenitors
ESO; Bonaccini Calia, D.; Feng, Y.; Hackenberg, Studies of Gamma-ray Bursts; Vink, J.; 140, 46
W.; Holzlöhner, R.; Taylor, L.; Lewis, S.; 139, 12 ESO–GOODS: Closing the Book, Opening New
A New Facility Receiver on APEX: The Submillimetre An Introduction to the E-ELT Instrumentation and Chapters; Rosati, P.; The ESO–GOODS Team;
APEX Bolometer Camera, SABOCA; Siringo, G.; Post-focal Adaptive Optics Module Studies; 140, 50
Kreysa, E.; De Breuck, C.; Kovacs, A.; Lundgren, D’Odorico, S.; Ramsay, S.; Hubin, N.; Gonzalez, The Outer Frontiers of the Solar System: Trans-
A.; Schuller, F.; Stanke, T.; Weiss, A.; Guesten, R.; J. C.; Zerbi, F. M.; 140, 17 Neptunian Objects and Centaurs; Barucci, M. A.;
Jethava, N.; May, T.; Menten, K. M.; Meyer, H.-G.; ATLAS: An Advanced Tomographic Laser-assisted Alvarez-Candal, A.; Belskaya, I.; de Bergh, C.;
Starkloff, M.; Zakosarenko, V.; 139, 20 Adaptive Optics System; Fusco, T.; 140, 18 DeMeo, F.; Dotto, E.; Fornasier, S.; Merlin, F.;
Recent Progress on the KMOS Multi-object Integral CODEX: An Ultra-stable High Resolution Spectro- Perna, D.; 141, 15
Field Spectrometer; Sharples, R.; Bender, R.; graph for the E-ELT; Pasquini, L.; Cristiani, S.; The APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the
Agudo Berbel, A.; Bennett, R.; Bezawada, N.; Garcia-Lopez, R.; Haehnelt, M.; Mayor, M.; 140, 20 Galaxy (ATLASGAL); Schuller, F.; Beuther, H.;
Bouché, N.; Bramall, D.; Casali, M.; Cirasuolo, M.; EAGLE: An Adaptive Optics Fed, Multiple Integral Bontemps, S.; Bronfman, L.; Carlhoff, P.;
Clark, P.; Cliffe, M.; Davies, R.; Davies, R.; Drory, Field Unit, Near-infrared Spectrograph; Morris, S.; C esaroni, R.; Contreras, Y.; Csengari, T.;
N.; Dubbeldam, M.; Fairley, A.; Finger, G.; Genzel, Cuby, J.-G.; 140, 22 D eharveng, L.; Garay, G.; Henning, T.; Herpin, F.;
R.; Haefner, R.; Hess, A.; Jeffers, P.; Lewis, I.; EPICS: An Exoplanet Imaging Camera and Spectro- Immer, K.; Lefloch, B.; Linz, H.; Mardones, D.;
Montgomery, D.; Murray, J.; Muschielok, B.; Förster graph for the E-ELT; Kasper, M.; Beuzit, J.-L.; Menten, K.; Minier, V.; Molinari, S.; Motte, F.;
Schreiber, N.; Pirard, J.; Ramsey-Howat, S.; Rees, 140, 24 Nguyen Luong, Q.; Nyman, L.-Å.; Rathborne, J.;
P.; Richter, J.; Robertson, D.; Robson, I.; Rolt, S.; HARMONI: A Single Field, Visible and Near-infrared Reveret, V.; Risacher, C.; Russeil, D.; Schilke, P.;
Saglia, R.; Schlichter, J.; Tecza, M.; Todd, S.; Integral Field Spectrograph for the E-ELT; Thatte, Schneider, N.; Tackenberg, J.; Testi, L.; Troost, T.;
Wegner, M.; Wiezorrek, E.; 139, 24 N.; 140, 26 Vasyunina, T.; Walmsley, M.; Wienen, M.;
Twenty Years of FORS Science Operations on the MAORY: A Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics RelaY for Wyrowski, F.; Zavagno, A.; 141, 20
VLT; Rupprecht, G.; Böhnhardt, H.; Moehler, S.; the E-ELT; Diolaiti, E.; 140, 28 VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV): Current
Møller, P.; Saviane, I.; Ziegler, B.; 140, 2 METIS: A Mid-infrared E-ELT Imager and Spectro- Status and First Results; Saito, R.; Hempel, M.;
A New Lenslet Array for the NACO Laser Guide Star graph; Brandl, B.; Blommaert, J.; Glasse, A.; Alonso-García, J.; Toledo, I.; Borissova, J.;
Wavefront Sensor; Kasper, M.; Zins, G.; Feautrier, Lenzen, R.; Pantin, E.; 140, 30 González, O.; Beamin, J. C.; Minniti, D.; Lucas, P.;
P.; O’Neal, J.; Michaud, L.; Rabou, P.; Stadler, E.; MICADO: The Multi-adaptive Optics Imaging Camera Emerson, J.; Ahumada, A.; Aigrain, S.; Alonso,
Charton, J.; Cumani, C.; Delboulbe, A.; Geimer, C.; for Deep Observations; Davies, R.; Genzel, R.; M. V.; Amôres, E.; Angeloni, R.; Arias, J.;
Gillet, G.; Girard, J.; Huerta, N.; Kern, P.; Lizon, 140, 32 Bandyopadhyay, R.; Barbá, R.; Barbuy, B.;
J.-L.; Lucuix, C.; Mouillet, D.; Moulin, T.; Rochat, S.; OPTIMOS–DIORAMAS: A Wide-field Imaging and Baume, G.; Bedin, L.; Bica, E.; Bronfman, L.;
Sönke, C.; 140, 8 Multi-slit Spectrograph for the E-ELT; Le Fèvre, O.; Carraro, G.; Catelan, M.; Clariá, J.; Contreras, C.;
The High Order Test Bench: Evaluating High Contrast Hill, L.; Le Mignant, D.; Maccagni, D.; Tresse, L.; Cross, N.; Davis, C.; de Grijs, R.; Dékány, I.; Drew,
Imaging Concepts for SPHERE and EPICS; Paltani, S.; 140, 34 J.; Fariña, C.; Feinstein, C.; Fernández Lajús, E.;
Martinez, P.; Aller-Carpentier, E.; Kasper, M.; OPTIMOS–EVE: A Fibre-fed Optical–Near-infrared Folkes, S.; Gamen, R.; Geisler, D.; Gieren, W.;
140, 10 Multi-object Spectrograph for the E-ELT; Hammer, Goldman, B.; Gosling, A.; Gunthardt, G.;
A New Coronagraph for NAOS–CONICA — the F.; Kaper, L.; Dalton, G.; 140, 36 Gurovich, S.; Hambly, N.; Hanson, M.; Hoare, M.;
Apodising Phase Plate; Kenworthy, M.; Quanz, S.; SIMPLE: A High Resolution Near-infrared Spectro- Irwin, M.; Ivanov, V.; Jordán, A.; Kerins, E.;
Meyer, M.; Kasper, M.; Girard, J.; Lenzen, R.; graph for the E-ELT; Origlia, L.; Oliva, E.; Maiolino, R.; K inemuchi, K.; Kurtev, R.; Longmore, A.; López-
Codona, J.; Hinz, P.; 141, 2 140, 38 Corredoira, M.; Maccarone, T.; Martín, E.; Masetti,
On the Difference between Seeing and Image Quality: N.; Mennickent, R.; Merlo, D.; Messineo, M.;
When the Turbulence Outer Scale Enters the Mirabel, F.; Monaco, L.; Moni Bidin, C.; Morelli, L.;
Game; Martinez, P.; Kolb, J.; Sarazin, M.; Tokovinin, Padilla, N.; Palma, T.; Parisi, M. C.; Parker, Q.;
A.; 141, 5 Pavani, D.; Pietrukowicz, P.; Pietrzynski, G.;
Balloons over the La Silla Paranal Observatory; Pignata, G.; Rejkuba, M.; Rojas, A.; Roman-
Kerber, F.; Querel, R.; Hanuschik, R.; Chacón, A.; Lopes, A.; Ruiz, M. T.; Sale, S.; Saviane, I.;
Sarazin, M.; on behalf of the project team; 141, 9 Schreiber, M.; Schröder, A.; Sharma, S.; Smith,
On the Instrumental Polarisation of NAOS–CONICA; M.; Sodré Jr., L.; Soto, M.; Stephens, A.; Tamura,
Witzel, G.; Eckart, A.; Lenzen, R.; Straubmeier, C.; M.; Tappert, C.; Thompson, M.; Valenti, E.; Vanzi,
142, 5 L.; Weidmann, W.; Zoccali, M.; 141, 24
D’Odorico, S.; Ramsay, S.; Hubin, N.; Gonzalez, Hammer, F.; Kaper, L.; Dalton, G.; OPTIMOS–EVE:
A J. C.; Zerbi, F. M.; An Introduction to the E-ELT A Fibre-fed Optical–Near-infrared Multi-object
Instrumentation and Post-focal Adaptive Optics Spectrograph for the E-ELT; 140, 36
Arnaboldi, M.; Petr-Gotzens, M.; Rejkuba, M.; Module Studies; 140, 17 Hammersley, P.; Christensen, L.; Dekker, H.; Izzo, C.;
Neeser, M.; Szeifert, T.; Ivanov, V. D.; Hummel, W.; Davies, R.; Genzel, R.; MICADO: The Multi-adaptive Selman, F.; Bristow, P.; Bourget, P.; Castillo, R.;
Hilker, M.; Neumayer, N.; Møller, P.; Nilsson, K.; Optics Imaging Camera for Deep Observations; Downing, M.; Haddad, N.; Hilker, M.; Lizon, J.-L.;
Venemans, B.; Hatziminaoglou, E.; Hussain, G.; 140, 32 Lucuix, C.; Mainieri, V.; Mieske, S.; Reinero, C.;
Stanke, T.; Teixeira, P.; Ramsay, S.; Retzlaff, J.; de Zeeuw, T.; In Memoriam Karin Horn-Hansen; 139, Rejkuba, M.; Rojas, C.; Smette, A.; Urrutia del Rio,
Slijkhuis, R.; Comerón, F.; Melnick, J.; Romaniello, 64 J.; Valenzuela, J.; Wolff, B.; Upgrading VIMOS;
M.; Emerson, J.; Sutherland, W.; Irwin, M.; Lewis, de Zeeuw, T.; In Memoriam Christine Nieuwenkamp; 142, 8
J.; Hodgkin, S.; Gonzales-Solares, E.; VISTA 142, 48
Science Verification — The Galactic and Extraga- Diolaiti, E.; MAORY: A Multi-conjugate Adaptive
lactic Mini-surveys; 139, 6 Optics RelaY for the E-ELT; 140, 28 K
Arsenault, R.; Madec, P.-Y.; Paufique, J.; Ströbele,
S.; Pirard, J.-F.; Vernet, É.; Hackenberg, W.; Kasper, M.; Zins, G.; Feautrier, P.; O’Neal, J.;
Hubin, N.; Jochum, L.; Kuntschner, H.; E Michaud, L.; Rabou, P.; Stadler, E.; Charton, J.;
G lindemann, A.; Amico, P.; Lelouarn, M.; Kolb, J.; Cumani, C.; Delboulbe, A.; Geimer, C.; Gillet, G.;
Tordo, S.; Donaldson, R.; Sönke, C.; Bonaccini Emerson, J.; Sutherland, W.; The Visible and Infrared Girard, J.; Huerta, N.; Kern, P.; Lizon, J.-L.;
Calia, D.; Conzelmann, R.; Delabre, B.; Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA): Looking Lucuix, C.; Mouillet, D.; Moulin, T.; Rochat, S.;
K iekebusch, M.; Duhoux, P.; Guidolin, I.; Quattri, Back at Commissioning; 139, 2 Sönke, C.; A New Lenslet Array for the NACO
M.; Guzman, R.; Buzzoni, B.; Comin, M.; Dupuy, Erdmann, C.; The Messenger on the Web; 139, 55 Laser Guide Star Wavefront Sensor; 140, 8
C.; Quentin, J.; Lizon, J.-L.; Silber, A.; Jolly, P.; Kasper, M.; Beuzit, J.-L.; EPICS: An Exoplanet
Manescau, A.; Hammersley, P.; Reyes, J.; Jost, Imaging Camera and Spectrograph for the E-ELT;
A.; Duchateau, M.; Heinz, V.; Bechet, C.; Stuik, R.; F 140, 24
Progress on the VLT Adaptive Optics Facility; Kenworthy, M.; Quanz, S.; Meyer, M.; Kasper, M.;
142, 12 Filippi, G.; Enabling Virtual Access to Latin-American Girard, J.; Lenzen, R.; Codona, J.; Hinz, P.;
Southern Observatories; 142, 2 A New Coronagraph for NAOS–CONICA — the
Fosbury, R.; Trygg, T.; Solargraphs of ESO; 141, 43 Apodising Phase Plate; 141, 2
B Fusco, T.; ATLAS: An Advanced Tomographic Laser- Kerber, F.; Querel, R.; Hanuschik, R.; Chacón, A.;
assisted Adaptive Optics System; 140, 18 Sarazin, M.; on behalf of the project team;
Barucci, M.A.; Alvarez-Candal, A.; Belskaya, I.; Balloons over the La Silla Paranal Observatory;
de Bergh, C.; DeMeo, F.; Dotto, E.; Fornasier, S.; 141, 9
Merlin, F.; Perna, D.; The Outer Frontiers of G Kissler-Patig, M.; McCaughrean, M.; Report on the
the Solar System: Trans-Neptunian Objects and ESO/ESA Workshop “JWST and the ELTs:
Centaurs; 141, 15 Giuffrida, G.; Sbordone, L.; Zaggia, S.; Marconi, G.; An Ideal Combination”; 140, 56
Bean, J.; Seifahrt, A.; Hartman, H.; Nilsson, H.; Bonifacio, P.; Izzo, C.; Szeifert, T.; Buonanno, R.;
Wiedemann, G.; Reiners, A.; Dreizler, S.; Henry, A Wide-angle VIMOS Survey of the Sagittarius
T.; The CRIRES Search for Planets at the Bottom Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy; 141, 29 L
of the Main Sequence; 140, 41 Gratton, R.; Carretta, E.; Bragaglia, A.; Lucatello, S.;
Boffin, H.; Hämmerle, H.; Wankerl, B.; Zollinger, S.; D’Orazi, V.; Observations of Multiple Stellar Popu- Laing, R.; Maiolino, R.; Rykaczewski, H.; Testi, L.;
Café & Kosmos Events in Munich; 142, 44 lations in Globular Clusters with FLAMES at the Report on the ESO Workshop “Science with
Bonaccini Calia, D.; Feng, Y.; Hackenberg, W.; VLT; 142, 28 ALMA Band 5”; 141, 41
Holzlöhner, R.; Taylor, L.; Lewis, S.; Laser Devel- Le Fèvre, O.; Hill, L.; Le Mignant, D.; Maccagni, D.;
opment for Sodium Laser Guide Stars at ESO; Tresse, L.; Paltani, S.; OPTIMOS–DIORAMAS:
139, 12 A Wide-field Imaging and Multi-slit Spectrograph
Brandl, B.; Blommaert, J.; Glasse, A.; Lenzen, R.; for the E-ELT; 140, 34
Pantin, E.; METIS: A Mid-infrared E-ELT Imager Lebzelter, T.; Seifahrt, A.; Ramsay, S.; Almeida, P.;
and Spectrograph; 140, 30 Bagnulo, S.; Dall, T.; Hartman, H.; Hussain, G.;
Bremer, M.; Lehnert, M.; Douglas, L.; Stanway, E.; Käufl, H.U.; Nieva, M.-F.; Przybilla, N.; Seemann,
Davies, L.; Clowe, D.; Milvang-Jensen, B.; U.; Smette, A.; Uttenthaler, S.; Wahlgren, G.;
B irkinshaw, M.; Studying the Properties of Early Wolff, B.; CRIRES–POP — A Library of High Res-
Galaxies with the ESO Remote Galaxy Survey; olution Spectra in the Near-infrared; 139, 33
141, 32 Lidman, C.; West, M.; Report on the ESO Workshop
“Galaxy Clusters in the Early Universe”; 139, 51
Lo Curto, G.; Beniflah, T.; Burrows, A.; Emsellem, E.;
C Maguire, K.; Pasquini, L.; Pritchard, J.;
Romaniello, M.; Availability of Reduction Software
Casali, M.; The 2010 SPIE Symposium on Astronom- for HARPS Data at ESO Headquarters in
ical Telescopes and Instrumentation; 141, 40 G arching; 142, 42
Clark, S.; Negueruela, I.; Ritchie, B.; Crowther, P.;
Dougherty, S.; Dissecting the Galactic Super Star
Cluster Westerlund 1 — A Laboratory for Stellar
Evolution; 142, 31
Maiolino, R.; Mannucci, F.; Cresci, G.; Gnerucci, A.; Saito, R.; Hempel, M.; Alonso-García, J.; Toledo, I.; Sterzik, M.; Bagnulo, S.; Azua, A.; Salinas, F.; Alfaro,
Troncoso, P.; Marconi, A.; Calura, F.; Cimatti, A.; Borissova, J.; González, O.; Beamin, J.C.; Minniti, J.; Vicuna, R.; Astronomy Meets Biology: EFOSC2
Cocchia, F.; Fontana, A.; Granato, G.; Grazian, A.; D.; Lucas, P.; Emerson, J.; Ahumada, A.; Aigrain, and the Chirality of Life; 142, 25
Matteucci, F.; Nagao, T.; Pentericci, L.; Pipino, A.; S.; Alonso, M.V.; Amôres, E.; Angeloni, R.; Arias, Swinbank, M.; Edge, A.; Richard, J.; Smail, I.;
Pozzetti, L.; Risaliti, G.; Silva, L.; AMAZE and LSD: J.; Bandyopadhyay, R.; Barbá, R.; Barbuy, B.; De Breuck, C.; Lundgren, A.; Siringo, G.; Weiss,
Metallicity and Dynamical Evolution of Galaxies in Baume, G.; Bedin, L.; Bica, E.; Bronfman, L.; A.; Harris, A.; Baker, A.; Longmore, S.; Ivison, R.;
the Early Universe; 142, 36 Carraro, G.; Catelan, M.; Clariá, J.; Contreras, C.; The Properties of Star-forming Regions within a
Martayan, C.; Baade, D.; Fabregat, J.; A Slitless Cross, N.; Davis, C.; de Grijs, R.; Dékány, I.; Drew, Galaxy at Redshift 2; 139, 42
Spectroscopic Survey for Ha-emitting Stars in the J.; Fariña, C.; Feinstein, C.; Fernández Lajús, E.;
Magellanic Clouds; 139, 29 Folkes, S.; Gamen, R.; Geisler, D.; Gieren, W.;
Martinez, P.; Aller-Carpentier, E.; Kasper, M.; Goldman, B.; Gosling, A.; Gunthardt, G.; T
The High Order Test Bench: Evaluating High Con- Gurovich, S.; Hambly, N.; Hanson, M.; Hoare, M.;
trast Imaging Concepts for SPHERE and EPICS; Irwin, M.; Ivanov, V.; Jordán, A.; Kerins, E.; Tamai, R.; In Memoriam Nelson Montano; 139, 65
140, 10 K inemuchi, K.; Kurtev, R.; Longmore, A.; López- Testi, L.; van Dishoeck, E.; Report on the Joint
Martinez, P.; Kolb, J.; Sarazin, M.; Tokovinin, A.; On Corredoira, M.; Maccarone, T.; Martín, E.; Masetti, ESO/MPE/MPA/LMU Workshop “From Circum-
the Difference between Seeing and Image Quality: N.; Mennickent, R.; Merlo, D.; Messineo, M.; stellar Disks to Planetary Systems”; 139, 47
When the Turbulence Outer Scale Enters the Mirabel, F.; Monaco, L.; Moni Bidin, C.; Morelli, L.; Testi, L.; ALMA Achieves Closure Phase with Three
Game; 141, 5 Padilla, N.; Palma, T.; Parisi, M.C.; Parker, Q.; Antennas on Chajnantor; 139, 52
Mignone, C.; Russo, P.; Christensen, L. L.; Beyond Pavani, D.; Pietrukowicz, P.; Pietrzynski, G.; Testi, L.; Schilke, P.; Brogan, C.; Report on the
2009: ESO at the Closing Ceremony of the Inter- Pignata, G.; Rejkuba, M.; Rojas, A.; Roman- Workshop “Data Needs for ALMA From Data
national Year of Astronomy; 139, 62 Lopes, A.; Ruiz, M.T.; Sale, S.; Saviane, I.; Cubes to Science: Ancillary Data and Advanced
Morris, S.; Cuby, J.-G.; EAGLE: An Adaptive Optics Schreiber, M.; Schröder, A.; Sharma, S.; Smith, Tools for ALMA”; 139, 53
Fed, Multiple Integral Field Unit, Near-infrared M.; Sodré Jr., L.; Soto, M.; Stephens, A.; Tamura, Testi, L.; Hills, R.; Laing, R.; Stanghellini, S.; Wild, W.;
Spectrograph; 140, 22 M.; Tappert, C.; Thompson, M.; Valenti, E.; Vanzi, ALMA Status and Progress towards Early
L.; Weidmann, W.; Zoccali, M.; VISTA Variables in Science; 142, 17
the Vía Láctea (VVV): Current Status and First Thatte, N.; HARMONI: A Single Field, Visible and
N Results; 141, 24 Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph for the
Sandu, O.; Christensen, L. L.; ESO Participation at E-ELT; 140, 26
Neumayer, N.; Cappellari, M.; van der Werf, P.; the Joint European and National Astronomy Meet- The ESO Solidarity Group; The ESO Solidarity Group
Reunanen, J.; Rix, H.-W.; de Zeeuw, T.; Davies, R.; ing in Lisbon, Portugal; 142, 42 in Support of the Earthquake Victims; 140, 60
SINFONI on the Nucleus of Centaurus A; 139, 36 Santos, N.; Melo, C.; Pasquini, L.; Glindeman, A.;
Neumayer, N.; Emsellem, E.; Report on the ESO Report on the CAUP and ESO Workshop
Workshop “Central Massive Objects: The Stellar “Towards other Earths: Perspectives and Limita- V
Nuclei – Black Hole Connection”; 141, 37 tions in the ELT Era”; 139, 49
Sartori, L.; Pelloni, C.; The Experience of Two High Vink, J.; Spectropolarimetry of Wolf–Rayet Stars in
School Students Doing Astronomical Research at the Magellanic Clouds: Constraining the Progeni-
O ESO; 141, 46 tors of Gamma-ray Bursts; 140, 46
Schuller, F.; Beuther, H.; Bontemps, S.; Bronfman,
Origlia, L.; Oliva, E.; Maiolino, R.; SIMPLE: A High L.; Carlhoff, P.; Cesaroni, R.; Contreras, Y.;
Resolution Near-infrared Spectrograph for the Csengari, T.; Deharveng, L.; Garay, G.; Henning, W
E-ELT; 140, 38 T.; Herpin, F.; Immer, K.; Lefloch, B.; Linz, H.;
M ardones, D.; Menten, K.; Minier, V.; Molinari, S.; Walsh, J.; Raymond Wilson Honoured with Two
Motte, F.; Nguyen Luong, Q.; Nyman, L.-Å.; Prestigious Prizes; 142, 41
P Rathborne, J.; Reveret, V.; Risacher, C.; Russeil, West, M.; Visiting ESO’s Office in Santiago; 142, 44
D.; Schilke, P.; Schneider, N.; Tackenberg, J.; Wittkowski, M.; Testi, L.; Report on the ESO Work-
Pasquini, L.; Cristiani, S.; Garcia-Lopez, R.; Testi, L.; Troost, T.; Vasyunina, T.; Walmsley, M.; shop “The Origin and Fate of the Sun: Evolution of
Haehnelt, M.; Mayor, M.; CODEX: An Ultra-stable Wienen, M.; Wyrowski, F.; Zavagno, A.; The APEX Solar-mass Stars Observed with High Angular
High Resolution Spectrograph for the E-ELT; 140, Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy Resolution”; 140, 53
20 (ATLASGAL); 141, 20 Witzel, G.; Eckart, A.; Lenzen, R.; Straubmeier, C.;
Pierce-Price, D.; ESO Participates in Germany’s Seifahrt, A.; Käufl, H. U.; Zängl, G.; Bean, J.; Richter, On the Instrumental Polarisation of NAOS–
Girls’ Day Activities; 140, 60 M.; Siebenmorgen, R.; Precise Modelling of CONICA; 142, 5
Primas, F.; Casali, M.; Walsh, J.; ESO Astronomers Telluric Features in Astronomical Spectra; 142, 21
Emeriti — Sandro D’Odorico and Alan Moorwood; Sharples, R.; Bender, R.; Agudo Berbel, A.; Bennett,
141, 50 R.; Bezawada, N.; Bouché, N.; Bramall, D.; Casali,
M.; Cirasuolo, M.; Clark, P.; Cliffe, M.; Davies, R.;
Davies, R.; Drory, N.; Dubbeldam, M.; Fairley, A.;
R Finger, G.; Genzel, R.; Haefner, R.; Hess, A.;
Jeffers, P.; Lewis, I.; Montgomery, D.; Murray, J.;
Rosati, P.; The ESO–GOODS Team; ESO–GOODS: Muschielok, B.; Förster Schreiber, N.; Pirard, J.;
Closing the Book, Opening New Chapters; 140, Ramsey-Howat, S.; Rees, P.; Richter, J.;
50 Robertson, D.; Robson, I.; Rolt, S.; Saglia, R.;
Rupprecht, G.; Böhnhardt, H.; Moehler, S.; Møller, P.; Schlichter, J.; Tecza, M.; Todd, S.; Wegner, M.;
Saviane, I.; Ziegler, B.; Twenty Years of FORS Wiezorrek, E.; Recent Progress on the KMOS
Science Operations on the VLT; 140, 2 Multi-object Integral Field Spectrometer; 139, 24
Siringo, G.; Kreysa, E.; De Breuck, C.; Kovacs, A.;
Lundgren, A.; Schuller, F.; Stanke, T.; Weiss, A.;
Guesten, R.; Jethava, N.; May, T.; Menten, K. M.;
Meyer, H.-G.; Starkloff, M.; Zakosarenko, V.; A
New Facility Receiver on APEX: The Submillimetre
APEX Bolometer Camera, SABOCA; 139, 20
Unless otherwise indicated, all images Front cover: The nearby (1.9 Mpc) spiral galaxy NGC 300 (type SAd), part of the
in The Messenger are courtesy of ESO, Sculptor group, is shown in a colour image taken with the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre
except authored contributions which Wide Field Imager by combining broad B-, V- and I-band images with narrow-
are courtesy of the respective authors. band [O iii] and Ha images. Further details of the image can be found in release
eso1037. NGC 300 hosted a recently detected luminous optical transient (an un
© ESO 2011 usual stellar explosion intermediate between a classical nova and a supernova)
ISSN 0722-6691 located to the northwest (lower right in this view) of the galaxy centre.